Abstract
Oxide glasses are an integral part of the modern world, but their usefulness can be limited by their characteristic brittleness at room temperature. We show that amorphous aluminum oxide can permanently deform without fracture at room temperature and high strain rate by a viscous creep mechanism. These thin-films can reach flow stress at room temperature and can flow plastically up to a total elongation of 100%, provided that the material is dense and free of geometrical flaws. Our study demonstrates a much higher ductility for an amorphous oxide at low temperature than previous observations. This discovery may facilitate the realization of damage-tolerant glass materials that contribute in new ways, with the potential to improve the mechanical resistance and reliability of applications such as electronic devices and batteries.
Highlights
Inorganic oxide glasses show great promise for modern electronics, including optoelectronics, flexible electronics, photovoltaics, single electron transistors and battery technologies [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Viscous flow and viscous creep are separated by a notion that creep is always activated by external loading in addition to thermal activation
A certain critical temperature, the glass transition temperature, Tg, bulk glass softens to a point where relaxation mechanisms activate and allow viscosity measurements
Summary
Inorganic oxide glasses show great promise for modern electronics, including optoelectronics, flexible electronics, photovoltaics, single electron transistors and battery technologies [1,2,3,4,5,6]. In the thermodynamics of inorganic glasses, relaxation mechanisms such as viscous flow and viscous creep are thought to require high temperatures to activate. Oxide glasses are considered brittle at room temperature due to the lack of active plastic deformation mechanisms.
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