THE INVESTIGATION OF SUPERCOOLING AND GLASSFORMING PROCESSES IN SALT MELTS

Abstract

The article  presents the results of a comprehensive study of the physicochemical properties of molten salts containing complex anions, aimed at identifying the fundamental regularities governing the glass formation process in such systems. It has been established that glass formation is not typical for pure molten salts; however, this process becomes significantly facilitated in multicomponent salt systems. It has been established that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of salt glasses obeys an additive dependence on composition, while the ratio Tg/Tm generally exceeds 2/3, which is consistent with known theoretical models for glass-forming materials.

Detailed investigations of the conductivity thiocyanate-containing melts provide further support for the proposed approach. The polytherms of electroconductivity plotted in semilogarithmic coordinates make it possible to determine the glass transition temperature with high sensitivity. The glassforming temperature values obtained from conductivity measurements show close agreement with the data acquired using differential thermal analysis, which verifies both the reliability and the accuracy of the experimental methodology adopted in this research.

The study additionally reveals that molten salts containing cations and complex ions of diverse chemical composition display a significantly increased propensity toward glass formation. This finding underscores the decisive role of chemical composition, structural complexity, and interionic interactions in the organization of glassy states within salt systems. The results presented in this work make a substantial enhancement to advancing the theoretical understanding of the glass formation in ionic melts and offer new insights into the mechanisms that control the phase behavior of complex molten salts.