Data-driven glass/ceramic science research: Insights from the glass and ceramic and data science/informatics communities

Data-driven science and technology have helped achieve meaningful technological advancements in areas such as materials/drug discovery and health care, but efforts to apply high-end data science algorithms to the areas of glass and ceramics are still limited. Many glass and ceramic researchers are interested in enhancing their work by using more data and data analytics to develop better functional materials more efficiently. Simultaneously, the data science community is looking for a way to access materials data resources to test and validate their advanced computational learning algorithms. To address this issue, The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) convened a Glass and Ceramic Data Science Workshop in February 2018, sponsored by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMTech) program. The workshop brought together a select group of leaders in the data science, informatics, and glass and ceramics communities, ACerS, and Nexight Group to identify the greatest opportunities and mechanisms for facilitating increased collaboration and coordination between these communities. This article summarizes workshop discussions about the current challenges that limit interactions and collaboration between the glass and ceramic and data science communities, opportunities for a coordinated approach that leverages existing knowledge in both communities, and a clear path toward the enhanced use of data science technologies for functional glass and ceramic research and development.     

SUGGESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT IN ENAMELING TECHNOLOGY1

This paper comprises the address of the Chairman of the Enamel Division of the American Ceramic Society at the Atlantic City Meeting, February, 1924. Among the suggestions for development in enameling technology are: The more general use of melted weights in representing enamel compositions; the use of coefficient of thermal expansion factors; improvement in the mechanical properties of enamel glasses by increasing the percentages of zinc oxide, boric oxide and titanium oxide, and by the use of thinner coatings; the widening of the heat range of ground coat enamel compositions by the use of more complex compositions than are now employed; and, finally, the more careful control of variation in the composition of the feldspars used in making enamels.     

The role of ceramic and glass science research in meeting societal challenges: Report from an NSF‐sponsored workshop

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation, a workshop on emerging research opportunities in ceramic and glass science was held in September 2016. Reported here are proceedings of the workshop. The report details eight challenges identified through workshop discussions: Ceramic processing: Programmable design and assembly; The defect genome: Understanding, characterizing, and predicting defects across time and length scales; Functionalizing defects for unprecedented properties; Ceramic flatlands: Defining structure‐property relations in free‐standing, supported, and confined two‐dimensional ceramics; Ceramics in the extreme: Discovery and design strategies; Ceramics in the extreme: Behavior of multimaterial systems; Understanding and exploiting glasses and melts under extreme conditions; and Rational design of functional glasses guided by predictive modeling. It is anticipated that these challenges, once met, will promote basic understanding and ultimately enable advancements within multiple sectors, including energy, environment, manufacturing, security, and health care.     

Glass and Rare-Earth Elements: A Personal Perspective

Light-based technologies are strongly supported by various glass materials in general. This article focuses on glasses containing rare-earth elements, doped fibers, as well as their photonic functions such as optical amplifications in fiber telecommunication. Scientific progress and applications of rare-earth spectroscopy and technologies of doped glasses and fibers in recent 60 years have been more than dramatic. Development of various laser diodes has been strongly linked with realization of novel devices of rare-earth-doped glasses. In addition to many milestones listed in the resolution of International Year of Light, we should notice that 2015 is also the 50th anniversary of the erbium-doped glass laser, which is later transformed into the optical fiber amplifier, the enabler of today's information society.     

Effect of Atmosphere on the Electrical Conductivity of Sodium Tungstophosphate Glasses

The dc electrical conductivity of sodium tungstophosphate glasses was measured as a function of glass composition, melting history, and ambient atmosphere. The color of the glasses was a strong function of both glass composition and melting history. The electrical conductivity was found to be strongly dependent upon the concentration of protons in the surrounding atmosphere. The colorless glasses were found to be electrochromic only so long as protons were present in the atmosphere. A model is suggested to explain these results.     

Effects of the thermal history on the hydraulic properties of slags

Glasses with two composition in the CaO---Al₂O₃---SiO₂ system were prepared with different cooling conditions. Glass A has a eutectic composition of wollastonite-gehlenite-rankinite and glass B has that of wollastonite-gehlenite-anorthite. The effects of the thermal history on the structure and hydraulic properties were discussed. Effects of cooling rate on the physical and chemical properties of glasses are found to be different with chemical composition of glass. Cooling rate affects the hydraulic reactivity and crystallization temperature, especially in glass A, but scarcely affects the physical properties such as chemical shift of AlK and surface basicity of the glass.     

Surface Analysis and Treatment of Extruded Fluoride Phosphate Glass Preforms for Optical Fiber Fabrication

Fabrication of fluoride phosphate glass optical fibers using the extrusion method for preform fabrication has been studied using the commercial Schott N‐FK51A glass. The extrusion step was found to create a surface layer of differing composition from the bulk glass material, leading to defects drawn down onto the optical fiber surface during fiber fabrication, resulting in high loss and fragile fibers. Similar phenomena have also been observed in other fluoride‐based glasses. Removal of this surface layer from preforms prior to fiber drawing was shown to improve optical fiber loss from >5 dB/m to 0.5–1.0 dB/m. The removal of this surface layer is therefore necessary to produce low‐loss fluoride phosphate optical fibers.     

Specifics of Phase Separation in Zirconium-Bearing Glazed Glasses

The results of studying phase separation in zirconium-bearing alumoboron silicate glazed glasses at the stages of melting and thermal treatment are described. The effect of glass composition on the specifics of its phase composition and structure is considered. The possibility of producing low-melting glaze coatings with preset properties is demonstrated.     

Quantitative prediction of the structure and luminescence properties of Nd3+ doped borate laser glasses

Although great advance has been made in glass science, predicting luminescence properties of laser glass poses a significant challenge for scientists due to the complex relationship between the composition, structure, and properties of the rare earth ions doped laser glasses. The development of high-performance laser glass usually relies on intuition and trial-and-error. Recently, with the proposal of the materials genome engineering, the “glass genome” has also attracted much attention. Here, the structure of the Nd³⁺ doped B₂O₃-Li₂O laser glasses was analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectra and nuclear magnetic resonance, revealing that the glass contains similar glass-forming ion-centered coordination polyhedron structure groups to the neighbor congruent glassy compounds. The structure and properties of glass largely depend on the neighbor congruent glassy compounds. Therefore, the structure and luminescence properties of Nd³⁺ doped B₂O₃-Li₂O and B₂O₃-MgO-Li₂O laser glasses can be quantitatively predicted via the neighbor congruent glassy compounds. The predictive values are in good agreement with the experimental data, which indicates that our approach is an effective way to predict the structure and luminescence properties of Nd³⁺ doped borate laser glasses.     

Myuller''s Structural Models in Statistical Thermodynamics of Glasses1

The impact of Myuller's chemical–structural method on the development of the modern concepts concerning the structure and physicochemical properties of glasses is considered. Making allowance for the switching of homo- and heterobonds, it is demonstrated that this method permits one to investigate the ranges of variations in glass parameters (adaptivity) and to estimate the energy accumulated during structural transformations. The partition function and the main thermodynamic functions of glasses are calculated by choosing a set of structural states that can be realized in glasses. It is proved that the adaptivity leads to multivaluedness of thermodynamic functions even for a particular glass composition.     

Apparatus for Measurement of Viscoelastic Properties of Glass

An apparatus for the precision measurement of the motion of torsion pendulums having glass samples as their elastic elements is described. The temperatures used range from -90° to 1200°F.; the range of frequencies is 0.1 to 10 cycles per second. Both the decay of a simple pendulum and sustained oscillation of a driven pendulum are used. The basic observation used for all measurements is elapsed time, the least increment of which is 10 microseconds with the apparatus used. Examples of the data obtained for The American Ceramic Society standard sample of soda-lime glass and for fused silica are given.     

Glass and Glass-Ceramic Technologies to Transform the World

This presentation is an overview of the findings from June 21 to 22, 2010 American Ceramic Society Leadership Summit and a personal perspective on the economic issues and technical feasibility of achieving breakthrough technologies in the business segments of Energy and Healthcare. The top 10 rankings from an extensive listing of 100 potentially important ceramic, glass and glass–ceramic technologies were all in the Energy and Healthcare Sectors of business. Innovative technologies that have the potential for being world-changing are discussed, including Transforming Technology for Energy No. 1: Innovative Energy Storage Devices; Transforming Technology for Healthcare No. 1: Bioactive Materials for Regeneration of Tissues; No. 2: Localized Therapies for Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases; No. 3: Tissue Engineering of Soft Tissues; No. 4: Stem Cell Engineering; No. 5: Preventative Medicine.     

THE INDEX OF REFRACTION OF SOME SODA-LIME-SILICA GLASSES AS A FUNCTION OF THE COMPOSITION1

Twenty-one soda-silica and twenty-one soda-lime-silica glasses were made in platinum crucibles and the index of refraction and chemical compositioii of each glass were determined. From the data obtained equations were derived and a diagram was prepared showing the relations between index of refraction and composition of these glasses. The diagram makes it possible to predict with considerable accuracy (1) the index of refraction of any glass in the range of compositions considered, from its composition. and (2) the cwpositions of the various glasses which have the same index of refraction. Some evidence is presented indicating that index of refraction of the soda-silica glasses may be a simple function of certain soda-silica compounds which may be present in glass.     

Preparation and crystallization of glasses in the system tetrasilicic mica-fluorapatite-diopside

The production of glasses whose composition ranged between tetrasilicic mica and fluorapatite-diopsite 50/50 (in wt.%) was investigated. Glass-ceramics were obtained by both bulk crystallization and sintering of glass powder compacts. The experimental results showed that increasing amount of apatite and diopsite components in the ternary system until 50% mica content generally caused decrease of melting temperature and increasing stability of glass against spontaneous crystallization during cooling after casting. Liquid immiscibility, whose features depend on the particular glass composition, characterized all the investigated glasses but it was more pronounced in the glasses with higher amount of apatite and diopsite components. The investigated glasses are preferably crystallized in bulk form between 700 and 900 °C, resulting in formation of different combinations between mica, fluorapatite and diopsite, depending on the particular composition. The obtained glass-ceramics exhibited attractive aesthetics, structural integrity and dense structure.     

Environment-dependent indentation recovery of select soda-lime silicate glasses

Indentations made on silicate glasses can easily be affected by the environment. In the present work, indentations were made on select commercial float glasses as well as on experimental soda-lime silicate glasses using a 1 mm diameter spherical tungsten carbide ball-mounted Brinell indenter. Recovery of indentations made on the glass samples was measured in different environments, namely, 100 °C, room temperature/room humidity and 100% relative humidity, as a function of time by using a Zygo laser non-contact profiliometer. Elastic (Young's modulus, bulk modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's ratio) and indentation (Vickers hardness, fracture toughness, brittleness and fracture surface energy) properties of the glasses were also determined by a pulse-echo and Vickers indentation methods, respectively, to correlate with the recovery of indentations. The elastic properties and Vickers hardness are directly proportional to the packing ions present in the glass structure and the strength of an individual bond, whereas the brittleness and fracture toughness more likely depend on molar volume of the glasses. According to the applied environment, a recovery rate of indentations follows the order: room temperature/room humidity <100% relative humidity <100 °C, regardless of glass composition. The reason for higher recovery rate of indentations is attributed to the structural relaxation, which is promoted by a thermodynamic driving force at 100 °C, and stored strain energy in deformation zone, allowing the indentations to regain their original configurations at certain points.     

Dissolution Rates of Silicate Glasses in Water at pH 7

Dissolution rates of different glasses in buffered solutions of constant pH of 7 were measured by weight change, profilometry, and ion implantation with Rutherford backscattering. Rates with different techniques agreed within experimental error. Natural obsidian glass dissolved most slowly, at a rate comparable with those of quartz and crystalline aluminosilicate minerals. Commercial soda–lime glass containing alumina dissolved slowly, at about the same rate as vitreous silica; soda–lime silicate glasses both commercial and laboratory without alumina dissolved much more rapidly. Pyrex borosilicate glass dissolved at a rate intermediate between those of soda–lime silicate glasses with and without alumina; at room temperature Pyrex borosilicate glass dissolved about 100 times faster than a commercial soda–lime glass containing alumina. We suggest that surface structure is the main factor determining the relative dissolution rates of silicate glasses. Glasses with transformed surface layers caused by hydration dissolve most rapidly; phase separation and openness of the glass structure are also important factors.     

Glass Science in the United States: Current Status and Future Directions

We review the current state of academic research in glass science in the United States. Our analysis is based on an evaluation of the number of journal articles published across the major segments of glass research. While the great majority of commercial opportunity is in silicate glasses and glass ceramics, together these represent less than one-quarter of publication activity. Academic research activity in glass ceramics is essentially nonexistent in the United States, while the attention given to metallic and chalcogenide glasses is disproportionately larger than the current industrial value for such glasses. We identify areas of glass research that are presently less explored, yet highly promising in terms of both industrial application and training students for future careers in industry.     

Leaching of Lead and Connectivity of Plumbate Networks in Lead Silicate Glasses

The formation of a plumbate network in binary lead silicate glasses was examined based on the leaching behavior of Pb²⁺ in lead silicate glasses over a wide composition region. The effective diffusion coefficient of Pb²⁺ at 40°C was on the order of 10⁻¹⁷ m²/s for PbO<35 mol% glasses, and increased three orders of magnitude for 35–50 mol% PbO contents. Such a steep composition dependence is considered to be because of changes in the medium or longer range structure. That is, it is proposed that the plumbate network forms a percolative 3D network in the composition region to form diffusion paths for the lead ions. In addition, the present results indicate that the lead ion exists as a network former over the entire glass forming composition range of the binary silicate glasses.