Glass is very attractive as a material, but its brittleness also limits a variety of potential applications. Scientists have recently proposed a new method of improving the structure, developing shatter-resistant glass with significantly higher toughness.
Oxide glass has a disordered internal structure and is the most widely used commercial glass material.
The research teams from Germany and China used high-temperature and high-pressure synthesis technology to successfully aggregate silicon, aluminum, boron, and oxygen atoms to form a paracrystalline structure at a pressure of 10-15 GPa and a temperature of 1,000°C.
The crystal-like structure is between crystal and amorphous. Although the arrangement is not as clear as the crystal structure, scientists have found that when the pressure and temperature drop to normal conditions,
The crystal-like structure of this aluminosilicate glass can still be preserved, and it becomes able to withstand extremely high stress, the toughness of the glass is many times higher than before, and the transparency is not affected.
The team pointed out that the experiment showed that the change of atomic structure has a great influence on the properties of oxide glass, and also proved that quasi-crystallization is a promising anti-fragmentation and toughening technology of oxide glass.
The new paper was published in the journal Nature Materials.
