Abstract:
Crystallization in the melt-quenched (MQ) and mechanically milled (MM) superionic systems has been thoroughly investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and electrical conductivity measurements. It is observed that the two systems obey different crystallization processes. The conventionally melt-quenched samples exhibit only one crystallization peak near 112 °C, whereas, the mechanochemically synthesized samples show two well-separated crystallization peaks at Tcl∼75–97 °C and Tc2∼132±2 °C. The higher value of electrical conductivity in the mechanochemically synthesized samples (∼10−2 Ω−1 cm−1 at 300 K) than the melt-quenched samples is attributed to the higher value of disorder (entropy) in the former.