22.07.2020 •

Breaking the Limit of Micro‐Ductility in Oxide Glasses

Abstract

Oxide glasses are one of the most important engineering and functional material families owing to their unique features, such as tailorable physical properties. However, at the same time intrinsic brittleness has been their main drawback, which severely restricts many applications. Despite much progress, a breakthrough in developing ultra‐damage‐resistant and ductile oxide glasses still needs to be made. Here, a critical advancement toward such oxide glasses is presented. In detail, a bulk oxide glass with a record‐high crack resistance is obtained by subjecting a caesium aluminoborate glass to surface aging under humid conditions, enabling it to sustain sharp contact deformations under loads of ≈500 N without forming any strength‐limiting cracks. This ultra‐high crack resistance exceeds that of the annealed oxide glasses by more than one order of magnitude, making this glass micro‐ductile. In addition, a remarkable indentation behavior, i.e., a time‐dependent shrinkage of the indent cavity, is demonstrated. Based on structural analyses, a molecular‐scale deformation model to account for both the ultra‐high crack resistance and the time‐dependent shrinkage in the studied glass is proposed.

Read the full open access article here:

Advanced Science

Source: Preview Image: Max Bukovski/Shutterstock

Related articles

Channel-Length Independent Electrical Characteristics of Oxide Thin-Film Transistors
Article Digest

Channel-Length Independent Electrical Characteristics of Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

The quality and dimensions of the fabricated devices were assessed through an MX61 optical microscope from Olympus.
Flexible Micropillar Electrode Arrays for In Vivo Neural Activity Recordings
Article Digest

Flexible Micropillar Electrode Arrays for In Vivo Neural Activity Recordings

Flexible electronics that can form tight interfaces with neural tissues hold great promise for improving the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders and advancing brain/machine interfaces. Here, the facile fabrication of a novel flexible micropillar electrode array (μPEA) is described based on a biotemplate method.
Super-Resolution Microscopy by Movable Thin Films with Embedded Microspheres
Article Digest

Super-Resolution Microscopy by Movable Thin Films with Embedded Microspheres

Microsphere-assisted imaging has emerged as a simple technique to obtain optical super-resolution. This work addresses the methodology of the resolution measurements and the limited field-of-view provided by each sphere.
Flexible Thin-Film Electronics
Article Digest

Flexible Thin-Film Electronics

Fast-forward and electronics are ubiquitous throughout our lives. Most electronic devices are composed of rigid circuit boards containing electronic components (e.g., transistors, resistors, and capacitors), and printed metallic interconnects. Now, flexible electronics are currently being developed for next-generation devices.
Boosted UV Photodetection Performance in Chemically Etched Amorphous Gallium(III) Oxide Thin-Film Transistors
Article Digest

Boosted UV Photodetection Performance in Chemically Etched Amorphous Gallium(III) Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

Bottom-gate amorphous gallium oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated to boost their UV photodetection properties. A simple chemical-etching solution was employed that is easy to use, low cost, and compatible with traditional lithographic processes to selectively etch a-Gallium(III) oxide films.
The Use of Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM) in Materials Science
Article Digest

The Use of Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM) in Materials Science

Herein, several examples that exploit the laser scanning confocal microscope’s capabilities of pseudo-infinite depth of field imaging, topographic imaging, fluorescence imaging, and photo-stimulated luminescence imaging for the characterization of different materials are provided.