PETRA establish missing link between mechanical and
structural properties of glass
The craft of glassmaking extends way back in time. It was
over five-thousand years ago when mankind learned how to make glass. Even prior
to this discovery, humans had been using naturally occurring glass for tool
making. Despite this long and rich history and widespread use of glass,
surprisingly little is known about the interplay between the mechanical
properties of glasses and their inner structures. For the first time,
researchers from Amsterdam University (The Netherlands) and DESY have now
monitored subtle structural changes in a glass made from microscopic silica
spheres, which they exposed to shear stress. Using a unique experimental setup
at DESY’s PETRA III X-ray source, the scientists discovered coexisting
structural states in the glass and related them to its flow behavior. The
research was published in the journal "Scientific Reports".