The Crystallization of Vitreous Selenium

Abstract

Crystallization of vitreous selenium has been investigated under an optical microscope with particular attention to the density of the nucleus for crystallization as a function of the quenching temperature. Nucleation of crystallization is found to be heterogeneous on account of the fact that the distribution of crystallization nuclei hardly changes with the heating time at a given temperature above∼60°C. The curve of nucleus density vs. quenching temperature shows a minimum near the quenching temperature of 500°C. The activation energy for the crystallization has been found in good agreement with that deduced from differential scanning calorimetry.