Abstract
The kinetics of the crystallization process of glassy Cu18As30Te52 alloy was studied under nonisothermal conditions using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Three exothermic peaks were observed, indicating the presence of three distinct stages of crystallization. The kinetic parameters (the effective activation energy (E), the preexponential factor (A) and the Avrami exponent (n)) for the three stages were evaluated using model-free and modelfitting analysis. The insignificant variation of n, E, and A with extent of conversion during the progress of first peak crystallization shows that this stage of transformation can be described by single-step mechanism of crystallization. For the subsequent stages of crystallization, the behavior of the kinetic parameters indicates that multi-step mechanisms are involved in the transformation. Based on the model-fitting analysis of the present data, the reaction models, g(alpha), describing the crystallization stages is the Avrami-Erofeev model.