Nickel sulfides in tempered glass

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Science.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. This thesis contains 3rd party copyright material. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. This thesis contains 3rd party copyright material. ----- Tempered glass panels used as glazing material in multistorey buildings are subject to fracture when they contain nickel sulfide inclusions. The failure mechanism is generally attributed to the significant volume increase related to a polymorphic phase retransformation in nickel sulfide. The principle aim of this thesis was to characterise nickel sulfide and identify a suitable method for the detection of nickel sulfide inclusions. In order to achieve this aim the present study investigated a variety of characterisation methods for nickel sulfides. Modern analytical techniques including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, laser Raman spectroscopy, optical, magnetic and dielectric methods were employed. Raman spectroscopy was found to have the greatest potential for the future development of a portable device for on-site detection of nickel sulfide inclusions, since this technique is sensitive to both chemical and morphological characteristics of these inclusions. As the failure mechanism of tempered glass is dependent on the phase transformation of nickel sulfide, thermal methods were also used for further characterisation of the phase morphology and the kinetics of the phase transformation. The results of the kinetic study were used to develop a model for the prediction of transformation times that corresponded with observed nickel sulfide induced failure of tempered glass