Pressure-induced amorphous-amorphous transition in pre-densified silica glass: an experimental exploration of the potential energy landscape
Abstract Despite the difficulty of experimentally studying polyamorphic transitions in high-Tg glasses, it is well known that silica glass has two high-density phases: the cold-compressed and hot-compressed high-density amorphous phases (c-HDA and h-HDA). By means of vibrational spectroscopy techniq...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89802-7 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Despite the difficulty of experimentally studying polyamorphic transitions in high-Tg glasses, it is well known that silica glass has two high-density phases: the cold-compressed and hot-compressed high-density amorphous phases (c-HDA and h-HDA). By means of vibrational spectroscopy techniques under pressure, we first evidence that the yield strength under hydrostatic pressure is identical for glasses of similar density, whatever the thermo-mechanical history, showing that the elastic limit of a silica glass depends solely of its density. Our results also reveal the changes in the energy landscape of amorphous silica under high pressure. Above a certain threshold pressure, the energy barriers between the different amorphous phases vanish and the glass is automatically driven toward the c-HDA phase, whatever the initial structure and the temperature of compression. Very high pressures can therefore erase all traces of a glass’s thermodynamic history. |
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| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |