User project: TEM analysis of intergranular glass film in ultra-strong glass ceramics

Wei Xia, Uppsala University

These two images depict (A) a BF-TEM image and (B) a HAADF-STEM image of ZrO2-SiO2 glass ceramics sintered using an ultrafast sintering process. In the BF-TEM image, numerous spherical and isolated nanocrystallites of ZrO2 with dark contrast are observed. These nanocrystallites are embedded in a SiO2 matrix, which appears with a bright contrast. The diameter of the nanocrystallites is approximately 50 nm. In the HAADF-STEM image, the nanocrystallites exhibit a bright contrast, while the matrix shows a dark contrast. This indicates that the nanocrystallites have a higher average atomic number compared to the matrix. These two images clearly demonstrate how well ZrO2 nanoparticles are distributed in a SiO2 glass matrix.