Rapid compression induced solidification of bulk amorphous sulfur

The melt's solidification behaviour of elemental sulfur was investigated by a series of experiments including natural cooling at ambient pressure, thermal quenching under high pressure of 1 GPa, slow compressing to 2 GPa for 10 min and rapid compressing to 2 GPa within 20 ms. Based on the XRD and DSC results of the recovered samples, it is clearly shown that rapid compression is an effective process in the solidification of an amorphous phase from the melt in sulfur. We have successfully recovered large bulk amorphous sulfur with a diameter of 20 mm and a thickness of 3 mm by the rapid compression method.