Structure and properties of disordered materials

液体和玻璃氧化物混合物在从普通到高级光子学的各种应用中普遍使用。一个例子是氧化硼和水。这种混合物是焊接铜管所需助熔剂的一部分，通常用作有效的阻燃剂：在室温下干燥时，它在加热时释放出水。在这些应用中，材料处于热液体状态，我们的目标是测量这些热液体的性质。在热的B2O：H2O混合物上几乎没有做过实验工作，可能是因为在进行测量时需要包含从释放的蒸汽中释放的几个大气层的压力。纯B_2O_3玻璃是一种“无机聚合物”；一整批材料实际上是一个单一分子，由一个连续的随机共价键网络组成。如果你看一下水的某个时刻的“快照”，它也是一个连续的随机键网络，但在水中，这些连接是连接H2O分子的弱得多的氢键。通过不断调整B_2O_3/H_2O的比例，我们逐渐从一种网络切换到另一种网络。我们的目标之一是找到在整个样品中形成连续的共价键网络所需的最低B2O3量。

Liquid and glassy oxide mixtures are used ubiquitously in applications ranging from the mundane to advanced photonics. One example is boron oxide and water. This mixture is part of the flux needed to solder copper pipes, and it is commonly used as an effective flame retardant: while dry at room temperature, it releases water upon heating. During these applications the material is in its hot liquid state, and our objective is to measure the properties these hot liquids. Almost no experimental work has been done on hot B2O3:H2O mixtures, perhaps due to the need to contain several atmospheres of pressure from the released steam while carrying out the measurements. Pure B2O3 glass is an "inorganic polymer"; a whole batch of material is actually one single molecule, consisting of a continuous random network of covalent bonds. If one looks at a "snapshot" of water at one moment, it is also a continuous random network of bonds, but in water the links are much weaker hydrogen bonds interlinking H2O molecules. By continuously adjusting the ratio of B2O3 to H2O we switch gradually from one type of network to the other. One of our objectives is to find the minimum amount of B2O3 required for forming a continuous network of covalent bonds across the whole sample.