Fundamentals of

Inorganic Glasses

Arun K. Varshneya
New York State College of Ceramics
Alfred University
Alfred, New York

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Varshneya, Arun K.
Fundamentals of inorganic glasses / Arun K. Varshneya.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-12-714970-8 (acid-free paper)
1. Glass. I. Title.
TP857.V37 1993
620.1'44—dc20 93-16591
CIP

Printed in the United States of America

93 94 95 96 97 BB 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 In memory of
my father
Nathi Lai Varshneya
 Preface

"What, a glass scientist?" "What's that?" These have often been the typical
responses to my indicated profession in social circles. Clearly, steel's impact
on society has been powerful enough for the term "metallurgist" to be
recognizable as a profession. Glass has yet to graduate to this level of
recognition despite the fact that indulgence in drinking fluids out of a glass
vessel, and looking at the world through a pair of eyeglasses and through a
room window have been around for quite some time. Presumably, such
aberrations will be corrected in the now long-overdue materials age when,
along with crystalline ceramics such as ceramic superconductors, glass fiber
for communication links will be a part of the common household vocabu­
lary. As it happens, my father never had any confusion between a "metal­
lurgist" and a "glass scientist." He was a laboratory glass supplier in India
and knew some 30 years ago that a future for glass professionals existed.
And so, there I w a s . . . headed toward becoming a glass scientist. (Thanks,
Dad, for that remarkable foresight!) As such, one of my primary purposes
in writing this book is to convey that feeling of "identity" to the young that
a glass professional (scientist, engineer, or technologist) does belong to a
reputable caste. The day is not far, probably, when some education about
glass will find its way through every college-level engineering and science
curriculum.
A second purpose is to bring together a host of fine quality books on glass
into a single book which has the flavor of being a textbook for an
undergraduate student—comprehensive, yet confining itself to a general
understanding of the topics. Trying to strike a balance between the depth
and the breadth has always been my aim. Unfortunately, I did have to set
limits on the coverage. This book is about inorganic glasses, and mostly
about their science. Glasses based upon the carbon chains and macro-
molecules have not been included. Also, details of the technology and

XV
xvi Preface

engineering of glass and glass product manufacture have been spared for a
later date.
The book is intended to be a textbook on glass science suitable for teaching
at a junior/senior level in a materials curriculum. Emphasis has been placed
upon developing the fundamental concepts, whether they were ultimately
proven wrong or not. As such, the book may also be useful to industrial
scientists and engineers who are attempting to acquire a basic knowledge in
glass. While all efforts have been made to avoid deep scientific discussions
and heavy mathematics, there are places where such was unavoidable.
Because of the size of Chapter 13, a summary has been written at the end.
Some topics in phase separation (Chapter 4), much of the glass transforma­
tion range behavior (Chapter 13), and some topics in dielectric properties
(Chapter 15), electronic conduction (Chapter 16) and optical properties
(Chapter 19) could be spared for a second-time reading or, perhaps, for
graduate-level instructions.
In writing the book, I have taken a teacher's point of view. The organiza­
tion of the chapters is almost the way I like to teach "Introduction to Glass
Science" to our students with one exception; Chapter 20 (Fundamentals of
Inorganic Glassmaking) is taught after Chapter 5, primarily because the
students get a bit "itchy" to learn some technology after a load of structures.
Several key ideas have been set in italics: many key words are set in bold
lettering. Occasionally, it may appear as if I am leading the reader by the
hand—please forgive me for this audacity on my part.
I strongly recommend that students practice the drawing of glass networks.
(One picture is worth a thousand words.) Likewise, I urge them to attack at
least some of the questions posed at the end of most chapters. Answers to
a few are provided. Further consultation of "Suggested Reading" is always
encouraged.
I am sure that many errors have slipped by in this first attempt. Please
drop me a note if you can help bring even the smallest of corrections or
improvements to this book.

June 30, 1993 Arun K. Varshneya

New York State College of Ceramics
Alfred University
Alfred, NY 14802
 Acknowledgments

I am forever grateful to my own teacher, Professor Alfred R. Cooper, Jr., of

Case Western Reserve University, for several wonderful years of association.
His knowledge, insight, and objective thinking about glass problems were a
model for me.
I am indebted to Harold Rawson of Sheffield (U.K.), Prabhat Gupta of
Ohio State University, George Scherer of Du Pont Company, Joe Simmons
of the University of Florida, and Alastair Cormack of Alfred University, who
read parts of this book (voluntarily). Their constructive criticism helped the
content of this book immensely.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to several of my colleagues
and members of administration at the New York State College of Ceramics
for their sustained colleagueship, comradery, and constant encouragement.
Of these, I owe special thanks to Bill LaCourse: besides all the stimulating
technical discussions in the hallways and the no-charge book loans, he almost
always had a medicine for the various computer hiccups such that my
floppies rarely needed to see the trash.
Frequent technical discussions with Oleg Mazurin of the Russian Academy
of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russia), were quite useful. Thanks are also due
to Tony DiGaudio of Williamsville, New York, for help with computer-
graphics.
The patience, understanding, encouragement, and continuing love ex­
pressed by my wife, Darshana, and daughters, Pooja, Kajal, and Rupal,
helped me endure the pains of writing this book.

June 30, 1993 Arun K. Varshneya

Alfred, New York

xvii