Ion exchange effect on the structural and mechanical behavior of colored glasses

Abstract

The mechanical properties of glasses depend on the state of their surfaces as well known. Flaws and residual stresses present on the glass surface are factors that influence the glasses mechanical behavior. In this work, the behavior in nanoindentation test of two types of colored glass painted with ancient painting process without using molten salts was studied. For that, nanoindentation and scratching tests were performed then the glasses were characterized using different methods as SEM, Raman spectroscopy, and UV-visible spectroscopy. The found results showed that after the ion exchange process Ag+-Na+, the glass structure is broken which reduces the concentration of Si-O-Si bond, and consequently leads to the glasses depolymerization. The phenomenon is not so evident for the borosilicate glass, which occurs less with the ion exchange process because of the low amount of sodium oxide in its composition.