The structure of sodium silicate glass

Abstract

Atomistic scale computer simulations can provide a more detailed understanding of the structure of glasses. Our results on sodium silicate glasses show that sodium ions are associated with nonbridging oxygens and that the sodium ions and nonbridging oxygens tend to aggregate to form silica rich regions and alkali rich regions. Interatomic distances of our simulated glasses are in good agreement with experimental results. O–Si–O bond angles are centered around 109° with narrow distributions. Si–O–Si bond angles are broadly distributed from 120° to 180° with an average of about 153°.