Long-Range Transformations During Crystallization in Solid and Softening Glass

The glassy state is considered as a result of self-organization in the form of the bond wave which stipulates a hierarchical structure up to the non-crystalline long-range order characterized by the bond wave length and the wave direction. The model is tested using original experiment of the cavitation-assisted crystallization with a special attention to the pre-nucleation stages observed by means of IR-spectroscopy and SEM. As a result, a three-step model for crystallization in glass is proposed based on the macroscopically extended 2D wavefronts as nuclei. The model is compared with classical nucleation theory and contemporary trends in glass science concerning intrinsic heterogeneity, both structural and dynamical.