Composition-Structure-Property Relations of Compressed Borosilicate Glasses

Glass is ubiquitous, yet our understanding of its structure-function relationships remains far from complete and limits technology. For example, while compression is an important tool in the synthesis of crystalline materials, comparable breakthroughs in preparing bulk glasses are still largely lacking. This work reveals the striking linear dependence of the plastic compressibility of borosilicate glasses on both initial trigonal boron content and relative change in hardness with pressure, with important implications for manufacturing tailored damage-resistant glassy materials.