Structural interpretations of aluminosilicate glasses

This manuscript presents a theoretical analysis of the correlation between the bulk moduli and the structure of a series of multicomponent aluminosilicate glasses in terms of the bond compression model. The main parameters in the analysis were the computed elastic moduli, the average stretching-force constant and the average atomic ring size. These parameters were calculated for every glass series and for every glass composition. The results showed that the average force constant of these glasses increases and the elastic moduli decrease with the increase in the SiO2 content (pure covalent bonds). This behaviour was attributed to the decrease in the molar volume, and the role of both CaO and Al2O3. The average atomic ring size of the studied glasses are about two-thirds of pure SiO2, whilst the elastic moduli of pure SiO2 glass are about two thirds of these glasses.