Vitrification

Vitrification (from Latin vitrum 'glass', via French vitrifier) is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass,^[1] that is to say, a non-crystalline or amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses possess a higher degree of connectivity with the same Hausdorff dimensionality of bonds as crystals: dim_H = 3.^[2] In the production of ceramics, vitrification is responsible for their impermeability to water.^[3]

Vitrification is usually achieved by heating materials until they liquidize, then cooling the liquid, often rapidly, so that it passes through the glass transition to form a glassy solid. Certain chemical reactions also result in glasses.

In terms of chemistry, vitrification is characteristic for amorphous materials or disordered systems and occurs when bonding between elementary particles (atoms, molecules, forming blocks) becomes higher than a certain threshold value.^[4] Thermal fluctuations break the bonds; therefore, the lower the temperature, the higher the degree of connectivity. Because of that, amorphous materials have a characteristic threshold temperature termed glass transition temperature (T_g): below T_g amorphous materials are glassy whereas above T_g they are molten.

The most common applications are in the making of pottery, glass, and some types of food, but there are many others, such as the vitrification of an antifreeze-like liquid in cryopreservation.

In a different sense of the word, the embedding of material inside a glassy matrix is also called vitrification. An important application is the vitrification of radioactive waste to obtain a substance that is thought to be safer and more stable for disposal.

One study suggests^[5][6][7][8] during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, a victim's brain was vitrified by the extreme heat of the volcanic ash; however, this has been strenuously disputed.^[9]

Vitrification is the progressive partial fusion of a clay, or of a body, as a result of a firing process. As vitrification proceeds, the proportion of glassy bond increases and the apparent porosity of the fired product becomes progressively lower.^[3][10] Vitreous bodies have open porosity, and may be either opaque or translucent. In this context, "zero porosity" may be defined as less than 1% water absorption. However, various standard procedures define the conditions of water absorption.^[11][12][13] An example is by ASTM, who state "The term vitreous generally signifies less than 0.5% absorption, except for floor and wall tile and low-voltage electrical insulators, which are considered vitreous up to 3% water absorption."^[14]

Pottery can be made impermeable to water by glazing or by vitrification. Porcelain, bone china, and sanitaryware are examples of vitrified pottery, and are impermeable even without glaze. Stoneware may be vitrified or semi-vitrified; the latter type would not be impermeable without glaze.^[15][3][16]

When sucrose is cooled slowly it results in crystal sugar (or rock candy), but when cooled rapidly it can form syrupy cotton candy (candyfloss).

Vitrification can also occur in a liquid such as water, usually through very rapid cooling or the introduction of agents that suppress the formation of ice crystals. This is in contrast to ordinary freezing which results in ice crystal formation. Vitrification is used in cryo-electron microscopy to cool samples so quickly that they can be imaged with an electron microscope without damage.^[17][18] In 2017, the Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded for the development of this technology, which can be used to image objects such as proteins or virus particles.^[19]

Ordinary soda-lime glass, used in windows and drinking containers, is created by the addition of sodium carbonate and lime (calcium oxide) to silicon dioxide. Without these additives, silicon dioxide would require very high temperature to obtain a melt, and subsequently (with slow cooling) a glass.

Vitrification is used in disposal and long-term storage of nuclear waste or other hazardous wastes^[20] in a method called geomelting. Waste is mixed with glass-forming chemicals in a furnace to form molten glass that then solidifies in canisters, thereby immobilizing the waste. The final waste form resembles obsidian and is a non-leaching, durable material that effectively traps the waste inside. It is widely assumed that such waste can be stored for relatively long periods in this form without concern for air or groundwater contamination. Bulk vitrification uses electrodes to melt soil and wastes where they lie buried. The hardened waste may then be disinterred with less danger of widespread contamination. According to the Pacific Northwest National Labs, "Vitrification locks dangerous materials into a stable glass form that will last for thousands of years."^[21]

• Cryogenics
• Crystallization
• Supercooling
• Vitrified fort

• Steven Ashle (June 2002). "Divide and Vitrify" (PDF). Scientific American. 286 (6): 17–19. Bibcode:2002SciAm.286f..17A. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0602-17. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
• Stefan Lovgren, "Corpses Frozen for Future Rebirth by Arizona Company", March 2005, National Geographic