Strength enhancement of soda-lime silica glass using ion exchange process

Abstract

This work presents brittleness reduction and flexural strength increase due to composition change on a soda lime silicate (SLS) glass and further improvement was achieved by chemical tempering process. It was possible to predict and prove the effect of composition variation on the index of brittleness through Vickers indentation technique. Some glasses were subjected to ion-exchange process where flexural strength was tested. A selected composition was evaluated varying the chemical strengthening time. Also, the result of a statistical topometric analysis of fracture surface of the selected glass composition with and without ionic exchange treatment is reported.