Revisiting metastable immiscibility in SiO₂-Al₂O₃: Structure and phase separation of supercooled liquids and glasses

Understanding and controlling liquid-liquid phase separation in aluminosilicates is crucial for optimizing glass properties. However, the metastable nature of aluminosilicates' phase separation has made it difficult to study experimentally, and uncertainty persists regarding the compositional and temperature extents of the miscibility gap. Here, we present new experimental evidence that suggests a consolute temperature between 1440 and 1590 degrees C and endmember compositions of 7 and 62 mol.% Al2O3 for the phase-separated glasses. Using containerless melt processing, deeply supercooled liquids over the 0-60 mol.% Al2O3 range are probed with in situ small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering, which simultaneously reveals changes in nanoscale density heterogeneity and atomic structure. Correlations between phase separation and atomic coordination environments are compared for liquids and glasses. Pair distribution function analysis shows mean O-(Si + Al) coordination increases with Al2O3 content and decreases with temperature.