On the Structure of Glass

JSGT 1948 V32 T154-T172

The paper discusses certain criteria for glass formation in pure oxide and in complex oxide glasses, and stresses the importance for the glass-forming cation of a low coordination number and ability to form covalent bonds to oxygen. Glasses containing alumina as a principal glass-forming cation are described, and some of their physical properties discussed. It is suggested that the possibility of making glasses containing high percentages of lead, bismuth and thallium is connected with the presence of an outer shell of (18+2) electrons. The role of many other cations is also discussed.

J. E. Stanworth