The effect of electric field on phase separation in glasses: a model and experimental testing

Theoretical analysis about the effect of electric field on nucleation in a binary system is given in the present paper. The effect of electric field depends on the difference of electric permitivity between new phase and initial phase. When the electric permitivity of precipitating phase is far bigger than that of the remaining matrix, the electric field will always promote the generation of second phase. When Δε>0 (Δε=ε1−ε0, ε1 is the electric permitivity of new phase, ε0 is the electric permitivity of initial phase), electric field will inhibit nucleation of new phase. Howerver, if Δε<0, electric field will promote the process of nucleation. The effect of electric field on the precipitating process of silver particles in glasses has been investigated to test one result of the theoretical analysis. The density of silver particles in glasses has been effectively increased, which is in conformity with the theoretical analysis.