Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
The early stages of dewetting of a reactive silicate (CaMgSiO4) film on a ceramic (MgO) substrate were studied by scanning probe microscopy. Subsequent interactions between the glass phase and an underlying single-crystal substrate, such as dissolution/re-precipitation of substrate material at the glass-ceramic interface and evaporation of silicate phase, were investigated by observing selected areas of the specimens through a series of annealing-quenching cycles. Implications deduced from the CaMgSiO4-MgO equilibrium phase diagram on the process of dissolution/re-precipitation of MgO are briefly discussed.