Investigation of indentation-caused cracking in surface-modified silica glasses

Abstract

Abstract Soda–lime–silica glass has been ion-exchanged in a hot melt of KNO3 and was implanted with Ar+ ions before and after the ion exchange. Vickers hardness, Young’s modulus and apparent fracture toughness were determined to explore the effect of the combination of the ion exchange and ion implantation treatments. For testing the brittleness of the material, an indentation-based cracking-statistics method was introduced. The hardness has been increased by the Na+–K+ ion exchange treatment. Ion implantation applied after short ion exchange treatment reduces the hardness. The apparent fracture toughness of the ion-exchanged samples decreases after the ion implantation. Both methods can enhance the resistance of the glass material against cracking. Combined application of ion implantation and ion exchange treatments can induce a further increase of the contact damage resistance of the materials.