POLAR GLASS-CERAMIC TEXTURES BASED ON COMPOUNDS WITH STILLWELLITE-LIKE STRUCTURE

The glass-ceramic textures based on the LaBGeO5 and LaBSiO5 stillwelli te-like phases are studied. It is shown experimentally that these text ures can be produced by different techniques of glass crystallization. The dense textures with degree of grain orientation up to similar to 0.9 are obtained in the form of well-defined needle-shaped crystals, w hich under certain conditions grow, for the most part, at right angles to the glass surface. The textures possess ferroelectric and pyroelec tric properties and exhibit ferroelectric phase transition temperature s close to those observed for the corresponding crystalline stillwelli tes. The pyroelectric coefficient for the best textures produced is ab out 2.0 nC/(cm(2) K) over a wide range of temperatures.