Phase selection in undercooled Y3Al5O12 melt

Two kinds of solidification paths from Y3Al5O12 melt has been reported; one is stable Y3Al5O12 (YAG) garnet, the other is metastable YAlO3 perovskite (YAP) and subsequent YAP+Al2O3 eutectic. The reason for this, however, has been puzzled. The effect of cooling rate on this phase selection was addressed under containerless condition using an aero-acoustic levitator. A high-speed video camera (HSV) enabled us to directly observe the recalescence behavior. As the cooling rate increased from 15 to 350 K/s, the solidification of a metastable YAP and YAP+Al2O3 eutectic, a monophasic YAG, and an amorphous phase were successively obtained. At around the critical cooling rate of approximately 50 K/s for the formation of YAP and YAG, simultaneous recalescence of YAP and YAG was observed by HSV, and the sample obtained contained both the metastable YAP and stable YAG. The nucleation rate of YAG corresponds with that of YAP at the critical cooling rate and the growth velocity of YAP, which first nucleated in the undercooled melt, was slow enough for YAG to nucleate in the remaining undercooled melt, resulting the simultaneous recalescence. In general, the metastable phase nucleates at the higher cooling rate than the stable phase. However. in this system, the higher nucleation barrier of YAG than that of YAP led to the nucleation of YAG at the higher cooling rate.