Absence of Memory Effect in High Purity Silica Glass M. Tomozawa, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

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Absence of Memory Effect in High Purity Silica
GlassM. Tomozawa, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, DMR-0352773
Structure and properties of glasses are
influenced by their thermal histories. This
memory effect has been considered a universal
phenomenon of all glasses. It was found here that
some glasses, e.g. high purity silica glass (top
figure), did not show this memory effect while
silica glass with impurity (bottom figure) such
as fluorine or water did. The figures show the
change of IR peak position, which represents a
structural feature of glass, during the
heat-treatment time at the temperature of
apparent equilibrium after the glass was brought
to the equilibrium by a continuous cooling. The
IR peak position of the glass with impurity,
first, deviated from the equilibrium state and
then returned to the equilibrium state. This is
attributed to the presence of different
structural units with different properties in the
glass. The phenomenon appears related to the
distribution of the impurity in the glass.
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Only Glass Scientists See GlassesM. Tomozawa,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, DMR-0352773
One graduate student and one undergraduate
student are working in this program. The PI gave
a talk on Introduction to Glass Science titled
Nobody sees glasses only glass scientists see
glasses at a liberal art college (Nova Southeast
Univ., FL). The topic included mechanical
properties of glasses, especially the drastic
effect of structural water in glass has on
mechanical strength of the glass. The
presentation materials were also shown at local
high schools.
Water in glass
Water in glass