Rapid solidification of cryolite and cryolite–alumina melts.

Abstract  Rapid solidification processing (with a cooling rate in the interval 105–106 K s−1) was used to prepare deeply undercooled cryolite–alumina melts. These samples were analyzed by XRD, infrared, and Raman spectroscopy. Besides cryolite, the amorphous phase and a low amount of ι-Al2O3 were detected. Annealing of the quenched sample revealed the transformation of metastable amorphous phases into different products depending on the annealing conditions. The results obtained showed that all of the elements (Na, Al, O, and F) are probably present in the amorphous parts of the quenched samples. Graphical Abstract   [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]