Medium Range Ordering Structure and Silica Glass Transition

Abstract

After several decades of study, the ordering structure existing in vitreous silica and the nature of silica glass transition remain controversial. This work describes a newly proposed nanoflake model for the medium range structure in vitreous silica and discusses the formation and evolution of the ordering structure in the glass transition process. The results show that there is a cooling rate independent critical temperature T_c corresponding to the formation of the ordering structure. This indicates that silica glass transition is a second-order phase transition.