Sintering and reactive crystal growth of diopside–albite glass–ceramics from waste glass

Diopside–albite glass–ceramics were fabricated by sintering the powder mixtures of crystallization promoters and waste glass. Two kinds of promoters were synthesized using kaolin clay, talc and chemical reagents. The crystalline phases were formed by a reactive crystallization between promoters and glass during sintering. The effect of promoter components, additions and sintering temperatures on the crystallizing and densifying behavior, microstructures and mechanical properties of glass–ceramics was investigated. The results showed that the higher densities and better mechanical properties were obtained for the glass–ceramics with 12–15% crystallization promoters sintered at 950 °C for 2 h.