Light-Transmitting Lithium Aluminosilicate Glass-Ceramics with Excellent Mechanical Properties Based on Cluster Model Design

Abstract

In this study, for the first time, a cluster-plus-glue-atom model was used to optimize the composition of lithium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics. Basic glass in glass-ceramics was considered to be a 16-unit combination of three-valence {M₂O₃} and one-valence {Li₂O} units. By adjusting the ratio of {M₂O₃} and {Li₂O}, the composition of basic glass could be optimized. After optimization, the average cation valence of the base glass was increased to 2.875. After heat treatment of the optimized base glass, it is found that the crystal size, proportion, and crystallinity changed obviously compared with that before optimization. The main crystalline phases of all the lithium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics prepared in this work were Li₂Si₂O₅ and LiAlSi₄O_10. All optimized glass-ceramics had an obvious improvement in the crystallinity, with one of the largest having a crystallinity of over 90%. Furthermore, its bending strength was 159 MPa, the microhardness was 967 Hv, and the visible light transmission rate exceeded 90%. Compared with the widely used touch panel cover glass, the optical properties were close, and the mechanical properties were greatly improved. Due to its excellent performance, it could be used in microelectronics, aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and other fields.

Keywords: average cation valence; cluster-plus-glue-atom model; light-transmitting glass-ceramics; lithium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics; mechanical property; structural analysis.