Date of Award
5-2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Legacy Department
Materials Science and Engineering
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Igor Luzinov
Committee Member
Dr. Kathleen Richardson
Committee Member
Dr. O. Thompson Mefford
Committee Member
Dr. Vincent Blouin
Committee Member
Dr. J. David Musgraves
Abstract
Structural relaxation in inorganic glasses is a phenomenon of much study in the glass community. The processes that govern how a glass relaxes towards its thermodynamic quasi-equilibrium state are major factors in understanding glass behavior near the glass transition region, as characterized by the glass transition temperature (Tg). Study of the glass transition has been going for as long as glass science has been a field and much of the cutting edge literature published in glass science today relates to it in some way. Intrinsic glass properties such as specific volume, enthalpy, entropy, density, etc. are used to map the behavior of the glass network below in and near the transition region. The question of whether a true thermodynamic second order phase transition takes place in the glass transition region is another pending question in the glass community. Linking viscosity behavior to entropy as Adam and Gibbs did, or viewing the glass configuration as an energy landscape are just a couple of the most prevalent methods used for attempting to understand the glass transition.[1,2] The structural relaxation behavior of inorganic glasses is important for more than scientific reasons, many commercial glass processing operations including glass melting and certain forms of optical fabrication include significant time spent in the glass transition region. For this reason knowledge of structural relaxation processes can, at a minimum, provide information for annealing duration of melt-quenched glasses. The development of a predictive model for annealing time prescription has the potential to save glass manufacturers significant time and money as well as increasing volume throughput. In optical hot forming processes such as precision glass molding, molded optical components can significantly change in shape upon cooling through the glass transition. This change in shape is not scientifically predictable as of yet though manufacturers typically use empirical rules developed in house. The classification of glass behavior in the glass transition region would allow molds to be accurately designed and save money for the producers.
Recommended Citation
Koontz, Erick, "CHARACTERIZATION OF STRUCTURAL RELAXATION IN INORGANIC GLASSES USING LENGTH DILATOMETRY" (2015). All Dissertations. 1485.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/1485