Topic: Crystallization Fundamentals: Viscous Flow, Nucleation & Crystal Growth Aspects in Glass Science and Technology

Lecturer: Prof. Marcio Luis Ferreira Nascimento, Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Time: December 4th, 2025, 16:30-17:30 UTC+8

Venue: Room 502, Xiuji Building, West Campus

Biography: Marcio Luis Ferreira Nascimento is a Brazilian physicist who graduated from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1997, with a master's degree in Solid State Physics (2000), also from the University of São Paulo, and a doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar, 2004). He has been a full professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic School of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) since 2009. His research activities focus on transport processes, especially crystallization and ionic conductivity, as well as other diffusional properties of glasses and glass-ceramics. Dr. Nascimento is the author of over 128 publications in internationally recognized journals, four book chapters, eight patents, and three books on popular science and mathematics (a fourth book will be published next year). His first publications, in 1996, were on the crystallization of lithium borate glasses doped with copper and other dopants for use as thermoluminescent dosimeters. His research focuses on thermodynamics and transport processes in glasses. He has supervised seven master's theses and nine doctoral students. He was a visiting professor at Coe College (USA, 2023-2024) and is currently at UFSCar (Brazil, 2025-2026). He is a Fellow of the Brazilian Physical Society, Brazilian Materials Research Society and Polytechnic Institute of Bahia. He also has contributed to academia, industry, and society in various positions. He teaches mathematics, applied statistics, chemical engineering, and materials science to undergraduate and graduate students. His current interests include glasses and glass-ceramics, innovation, history of science, machine learning, Big Data, and, in particular, mathematics for laypeople. Dr. Nascimento is actively involved in teaching and supervising students, fostering the next generation of scientists in his field and, most importantly, promoting popular science and mathematics for everyone.

Abstract: This short course provides a gentle introduction to the fundamentals of nucleation, crystallization and glass formation in oxide systems. Due to their measurable crystallization kinetics, oxide glass formers are ideal systems for evaluating theoretical approaches to describing and predicting crystal nucleation dynamics and mechanisms. Additionally, controlled crystallization can result in glass-ceramics, which are materials with an unusually favorable combination of properties. Thus, the crystal nucleation process in these systems has been extensively researched. These two-day lectures will provide an overview of the fundamental concepts and advances in knowledge regarding crystal nucleation and growth, crystallization and glass formation (vitrification) in oxide systems over the past centuries, from the work of de Réaumur and Tammann, among others, to the present day. Discussions will cover classical approaches to describing basic nucleation kinetics, viscous flow, diffusion, and relevant discoveries associated with this process, considering both experimental as well as liquid molecular structures, to better understand crystallization dynamics.

Rewritten by: Li Huihui

Edited by: Li Tiantian

Source: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures