Shock-induced dissociation of soda-lime glass and the formation of single crystals of quartz and polycrystalline silicon

Abstract

Amorphous soda-lime glass was subjected to shock induced loading with velocities of the impactor ∼10 km/s. The recovered sample was analyzed using high resolution x-ray diffraction and cross-polarized microscopy. The recovered samples were in form of aggregate consisting of the crystalline phases, polycrystalline alpha quartz, and silicon, which were identified in x-ray diffraction scans. We demonstrate high velocity impacts result in the transformation of amorphous glass to single crystalline quartz as a alpha-phase, and shock induced dissociation of silica into Si. In addition, a trace amount of tetragonal stishovite phase, which is extremely hard high-pressure phase of silicon dioxide, has been observed. This provides a new insight in understanding materials transformation behavior under extreme conditions. This will also contribute to our understanding of astronomical phenomenon, including meteorite and asteroid impacts on Earth and Earth-like planets.