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Minerals
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Minerals and Crystals in Glass
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Minerals and Crystals in Glass

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 21211

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Alberta Silvestri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via G. Gradenigo, 6, 35131 Padova, Italy
Interests: glass science and technology; glass alteration processes; archaeometry; applied mineralogy; isotope geochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Glass, both natural and synthetic, is generally described as a homogeneous amorphous material, but, as a matter of fact, some glass samples are rather heterogeneous materials, composed of a glassy matrix and crystalline phases, and, depending on the ratio between amorphous and crystalline phases, they can be also defined as glass-ceramics. The crystalline phases identified in glass are both newly formed crystals, precipitated, intentionally and/or unintentionally, due to suitable chemical compositions of batch, and melting conditions (e.g., wollastonite, calcium-tin silicates, calcium or lead antimonates, cuprite, and so on), and, in the case of synthetic glass, minerals, which are considered residues of used raw materials (e.g., quartz, feldspars, zircon and so on). In particular, the newly formed crystals in glass can be tailored by controlling the base-glass composition and by controlled heat treatment/crystallization of base glass and are, sometimes, produced by means of complex and various (nano)-technological processes, to impart specific thermomechanical, electrical, and/or optical properties. Therefore, the study of these crystals and minerals represents a stimulating yet challenging field of research and is proving an important tool to understand (ancient) glass-making formation and/or technology, because these inhomogeneities record phases of production history and formation processes, and allow to infer the provenance signatures of the raw materials. In this context, taking into account strict analogies that exist between the glass-crystals formation and magmatic processes, methods and analytical approaches of Earth Sciences appear to be particularly suitable for identifying chemical, mineralogical, and isotopic compositions, and micro-textures of minerals and crystals in glass and their relationships with formation processes and/or production technologies.

This Special Issue invites contributions (research papers and reviews), that deal with chemical, mineralogical, spectroscopic, micro-textural, and isotopic characterisation of minerals and crystals identified in natural and synthetic glass, in order to address questions related to the source, type and provenance of raw materials, and to describe the production technologies and formation processes of such kind of materials. In addition, papers on experimental replicas in controlled physico-chemical conditions, aiming to synthesise innovative and ancient-like materials or with tailorable thermomechanical, electrical, and/or optical properties, to test the different hypotheses on the nucleation and growth processes of the minerals and crystals identified in glass, and to propose interpretative models, will be also considered.

Prof. Alberta Silvestri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • (ancient) glass and glass ceramics
  • obsidian
  • bioactive glass
  • raw materials
  • newly-formed crystals
  • production technology
  • nucleation and growth
  • glass synthesis
  • experimental replicas
  • thermomechanical, electrical, optical properties
  • nano-technology

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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13 pages, 3243 KiB  
Article
Manganese-Containing Inclusions in Late-Antique Glass Mosaic Tesserae: A New Technological Marker?
by Alberta Silvestri, Fabrizio Nestola and Luca Peruzzo
Minerals 2020, 10(10), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10100881 - 3 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2365
Abstract
The present study focuses on manganese-containing inclusions identified in late-Antique glass tesserae, light brown/amber and purple in colour, from Padova (Italy), in order to clarify the nature of these inclusions, never identified in glass mosaics until now, and provide new insights on the [...] Read more.
The present study focuses on manganese-containing inclusions identified in late-Antique glass tesserae, light brown/amber and purple in colour, from Padova (Italy), in order to clarify the nature of these inclusions, never identified in glass mosaics until now, and provide new insights on the production technologies of such kinds of tesserae. Multi-methodological investigations on manganese-containing inclusions were carried out in this work by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), micro-X-ray diffraction (micro-XRD), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), electron microprobe (EMPA), and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The combination of analytical results shows that inclusions are crystalline, new-formed phases, mainly composed of manganese, silica and calcium, and are mineralogically ascribed as a member of the braunite-neltnerite series, with unit-cell parameters closer to those of neltnerite. However, the low Ca content makes such crystalline compounds more similar to braunite, in more detail, they could be described as Ca-rich braunite. The occurrence of such crystalline phase allows us to constrain melting temperatures between 1000 and 1150 °C, and to hypothesize pyrolusite, MnO2, as the source of manganese. In addition, it is worth underlining that the same phase is identified in tesserae characterised by different colours (light brown/amber vs purple due to different manganese/iron ratios), glassy matrices (soda-lime-lead vs soda-lime) and opacifiers (cassiterite vs no opacifier). This suggests that its occurrence is not influenced by the “chemical environment”, revealing these manganese-containing inclusions as a new potential technological marker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Minerals and Crystals in Glass)
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34 pages, 18124 KiB  
Article
The Technology of Copper-Based Red Glass Sectilia from the 2nd Century AD Lucius Verus Villa in Rome
by Mario Bandiera, Marco Verità, Patrice Lehuédé and Marcia Vilarigues
Minerals 2020, 10(10), 875; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10100875 - 1 Oct 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4338
Abstract
This work aimed to investigate the origin of different red hues of Roman copper-based red opaque glass sectilia, to shed light on the production technology behind them. This objective was achieved by the depth study of the samples of glass sectilia, [...] Read more.
This work aimed to investigate the origin of different red hues of Roman copper-based red opaque glass sectilia, to shed light on the production technology behind them. This objective was achieved by the depth study of the samples of glass sectilia, which decorated the villa of co-Emperor Lucius Verus (161–169 AD). These were selected for analysis due to their abundance, the certainty of their date and of their different red and orange hues. Using OM (optical microscopy), colourimetry and FORS (fibre optical reflectance spectroscopy) spectroscopy, four red and four orange hues were individuated. A set of representative samples for each hue was analysed by EPMA (electron probe microanalyses) to detect any correlation between colour and chemical composition. Crystalline phases were investigated through high-resolution FEG–SEM (field emission gun scanning electron microscope), μRaman spectroscopy and XRD, for the identification of colouring and opacifying agents and to understand how the different hues are affected by their shape, concentration and dimension. Sub-micrometric particles of metallic copper and cuprite crystals were identified as both the colouring and opacifying agents. These were not present in the same samples and were manufactured by two distinct colouring techniques, corresponding to two different glass chemical compositions. The size and the number of the colouring particles were the main factors that distinguished one hue from another. Although produced through different colouring techniques, some red samples appeared to be very similar to each other. These data enrich a period of the Roman age through some analyses and allow the identification of the type, as well as some of the production conditions of opaque red glass produced during 2nd century AD, which could be considered to be a period of transition from one technology to another. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Minerals and Crystals in Glass)
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46 pages, 27737 KiB  
Article
From Crystals to Color: A Compendium of Multi-Analytical Data on Mineralogical Phases in Opaque Colored Glass Mosaic Tesserae
by Mariangela Vandini and Sara Fiorentino
Minerals 2020, 10(7), 609; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10070609 - 7 Jul 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3519
Abstract
This study aimed at laying the groundwork for a compendium on mineralogical phases responsible for the colors and opacity of ancient glasses, with specific reference to mosaic tesserae. Based on the awareness that a comprehensive database of these phases is currently lacking in [...] Read more.
This study aimed at laying the groundwork for a compendium on mineralogical phases responsible for the colors and opacity of ancient glasses, with specific reference to mosaic tesserae. Based on the awareness that a comprehensive database of these phases is currently lacking in the available literature, this compendium foresees two main objectives. The first scope was to set the basis for a well-structured database, as a reference point for scholars from different backgrounds for comparative and methodological purposes. The second goal was to provide insights on analytical methods that could be profitably used for achieving an in-depth characterization of coloring and opacifying inclusions; a tailored multi-analytical approach based on easily accessible and widespread techniques like OM, SEM-EDS, μ-Raman, and XRPD is proposed here. Micro-structural and compositional features of glass tesserae, where different types of crystalline phases were detected (Sb-based, Sn-based, Cu-based, Ca-phosphate-based) are presented in well-structured synoptic tables, following a summary on historical–archaeological information on their use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Minerals and Crystals in Glass)
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15 pages, 4382 KiB  
Communication
Crystallization and Thermal Stability of the P-Doped Basaltic Glass Fibers
by Sergey I. Gutnikov, Mikhail S. Manylov and Bogdan I. Lazoryak
Minerals 2019, 9(10), 615; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9100615 - 7 Oct 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2929
Abstract
The present research focuses on the influence of phosphorus oxide additives on the structure and thermal properties of the basalt glasses, produced in the form of fibers, i.e., at very high quenching speed. Basaltic glass fibers with various P2O5 contents [...] Read more.
The present research focuses on the influence of phosphorus oxide additives on the structure and thermal properties of the basalt glasses, produced in the form of fibers, i.e., at very high quenching speed. Basaltic glass fibers with various P2O5 contents were produced in two stages. In the first stage, the bulk glasses were prepared by adding variable amounts of (NH4)4P2O7 to milled natural andesitic basalt in order to obtain samples containing 2, 4, and 6 wt % P2O5. In the second stage, the glass fibers were obtained using a laboratory-scale system. Basalt glass fibers were characterized by Raman spectroscopy to obtain information on the structure of the obtained fibers, and by DSC-TG and XRD analyses to determine the change in crystallization mechanism of basaltic fibers. The hydrostatic weighing was used for the determination of glasses density. An increase in the content of P2O5 to 6 wt % leads to a decrease in the density of glass fibers due to the polymerizing effect of phosphorus oxide. The obtained X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that all samples are X-ray amorphous. The Raman results show that the decrease in the intensity of the line corresponding to vibrations of the structural units Q2 (about 920 cm–1) with respect to the line corresponding to Q3 (about 1125 cm–1) is related to an increase of P2O5 content. This also indicates the increase in polymerization degree of glass structure. DSC and XRD data also found out the change of phase transformations order with an increase of phosphorus oxide. The crystallization in natural and modified basalt glass fibers begins with spontaneous spinel-like phase formations that become nucleation sites for the precipitation of monoclinic pyroxene as a major phase. With an increase in the P2O5 content, there is a tendency to a decrease in the pyroxene at higher temperature, as a result of which, the hematite crystallizes at lower temperatures. That is associated with the activation of liquation processes, accompanied by the formation of amorphous phases with different viscosities with an increase in the concentration of P2O5. In conclusion, all the obtained data indicate the prospect of using the proposed approach to obtain basalt glass fibers with enhanced thermal and mechanical stability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Minerals and Crystals in Glass)
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22 pages, 14038 KiB  
Commentary
Breaking Preconceptions: Thin Section Petrography For Ceramic Glaze Microstructures
by Roberta Di Febo, Lluís Casas, Jordi Rius, Riccardo Tagliapietra and Joan Carles Melgarejo
Minerals 2019, 9(2), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9020113 - 15 Feb 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7243
Abstract
During the last thirty years, microstructural and technological studies on ceramic glazes have been essentially carried out through the use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). On the contrary, optical microscopy (OM) has been considered of limited [...] Read more.
During the last thirty years, microstructural and technological studies on ceramic glazes have been essentially carried out through the use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). On the contrary, optical microscopy (OM) has been considered of limited use in solving the very complex and fine-scale microstructures associated with ceramic glazes. As the crystallites formed inside glazes are sub- and micrometric, a common misconception is that it is not possible to study them by OM. This is probably one of the reasons why there are no available articles and textbooks and even no visual resources for describing and characterizing the micro-crystallites formed in glaze matrices. A thin section petrography (TSP) for ceramic glaze microstructures does not exist yet, neither as a field of study nor conceptually. In the present contribution, we intend to show new developments in the field of ceramic glaze petrography, highlighting the potential of OM in the microstructural studies of ceramic glazes using petrographic thin sections. The outcomes not only stress the pivotal role of thin section petrography for the study of glaze microstructures but also show that this step should not be bypassed to achieve reliable readings of the glaze microstructures and sound interpretations of the technological procedures. We suggest the adoption by the scientific community of an alternative vision on glaze microstructures to turn thin section petrography for glaze microstructures into a new specialized petrographic discipline. Such an approach, if intensively developed, has the potential to reduce the time and costs of scientific investigations in this specific domain. In fact, it can provide key reference data for the identification of the crystallites in ceramic glazes, avoiding the repetition of exhaustive protocols of expensive integrated analyses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Minerals and Crystals in Glass)
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