Abstract
The aim of the work described was to investigate the effect of the glass microstructure, changed during chemical and thermal treatments, upon the micro-hardness and microcracking of the exchanged specimens. Commercially available soda-lime silicate glass samples have been doped with copper. After ion-exchange, some of the specimens were annealed in the hydrogen atmosphere. Transmission electron microscopy, the XRD and electron diffraction techniques were used to characterize the microstructure of the glass-composites. Additionally, the linear thermal expansion coefficient was measured. The detected strengthening effects have been explained by supposing the formation of copper oxide and some mixed sodium-copper silicates. The induced decrease of the thermal expansion coefficient of this layer results in the formation of strong compressive stresses.
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