vitrification

From Late Latin *vitrificātio (“glassification”), from *vitrificāre (“to glassify”), from vitrum (“glass”) + -ificāre (“-ify”). Cf. French vitrification, Spanish vitrificación, Italian vitrificazion.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪ.tɹɪ.fɪˌkeɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɪtɹɪfɪkeɪʃən, -eɪʃən

vitrification (countable and uncountable, plural vitrifications)

1. (usually uncountable) The action or process of vitrifying a material: conversion into a glass-like amorphous solid free of any crystalline structure by addition or removal of heat or by mixture with an additive.
   • 1919, United States. Bureau of Standards, Technologic Papers of the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, page 15:

     At this point overfiring begins, as is shown particularly by the volume curve, which indicates decided bloating, so that at 1450°C the clay has about the same volume it had at 1050°C before vitrification took place.

2. (countable) An instance of such conversion.
3. (countable) The result of such conversion: a vitrified substance or object.

• vitrifaction

• vitrify, vitrifacture, vitreous

• “vitrification, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920.