The Structural Basis for Glasses More Tolerant to Thermal, Mechanical and Radiation Impacts

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0907076HuangNON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: By combining experimental and computational tools in a synergistic manner, researchers at RPI will significantly advance the understanding of the glass structure in general, which has proven difficult by using either one of the techniques alone. By using a pressure-quenching technique, they will synthesize glasses that have a high thermo-mechanical resistance when subjected to large temperature and pressure fluctuations, which will find a wide range of uses in pressure sensors, optoelectronics and space applications. An integral part of the project is to introduce materials simulation and modeling into the materials science and engineering curriculum through course development and redesigning. In carrying out this project, graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in the fields of glass science and computer simulation. Special efforts will be made to attract underrepresented minority students into materials research, and into science and engineering in general, through various programs at Rensselaer. Findings of this project will be disseminated to a wider audience through national and international seminars and conference presentations.TECHNICAL DETAILS: Characterization of the structure of amorphous materials has always been a challenge. Studies of the pressure and temperature dependence of elastic moduli for amorphous materials give considerable information about the structure of glass, since elastic properties are directly related to the interatomic forces and potentials, which in turn determine the vibrational properties of glass. In this project, one of their major efforts will be to use light scattering techniques as structural characterization tools for glass, by studying the pressure and temperature dependent vibrational and elastic properties of glass using Raman and Brillouin light scattering. To complement the experiments, they will carry out large-scale atomistic simulations to study glasses under external thermal, mechanical and radiation impacts. Once reasonable models are obtained for the glasses under investigation, they will use these models to explain experimental observations, predict the properties of glasses not yet synthesized, and provide guidelines for designing new glasses with desired properties. In this project, they will develop a pressure-quenching technique that can be generalized to synthesize glasses with novel properties. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop an atomistic understanding of the response of glasses to external thermal, mechanical and radiation impacts, and an ability to tune these properties by changing the structure of glass through processing in a controllable way.