The retardance of silica glass fibers was evaluated using photoelastic techniques. Here, surface birefringence in glass fibers is shown to be a consequence of surface stress relaxation for as‐received fibers drawn from Suprasil II. The surface features of the birefringent fibers were compared to a model of the residual axial stress profile resulting from a diffusion‐controlled surface stress relaxation. Additionally, a uniform birefringence in the fiber equivalent to a constant tensile stress was recognized and attributed to structural anisotropy produced during fiber drawing. The contribution of structural anisotropy to the observed birefringence remained constant as the surface features were successively etched away. Surface compressive stress generation was also observed, as retardance corresponding to a surface compressive stress was found to increase with applied tensile stress during short heat treatments. Significant features of the retardance profile in as‐received silica glass fibers, with a thin surface compressive stress layer and compensating interior tensile stress, agreed with the residual stress profiles predicted by the surface stress relaxation model after correcting for this observed structural anisotropy.
Silica glass samples were given various heat treatments under stress at low temperatures and subsequently their residual stress distributions in terms of retardance were observed using a polarized light microscope, confirming previously reported fast surface stress relaxation while providing more detailed characterization. Retardance How to cite this article: Hausmann BD, Aaldenberg EM, Tomozawa M. Photoelastic confirmation of surface stress relaxation in silica glasses: Fiber bending and rod torsion.
Some polymers and oxide glasses exhibit unusual diffusion of liquid or gas, with the depth of diffusion exhibiting a linear increase with time, instead of normal square root of time dependence. There have been many models, but very few experimental data that can help clarify the cause of the phenomenon's existence in glass. Residual stress in sodium trisilicate glass (Na2O–3SiO2) samples was characterized following Case II water diffusion at 80°C in a saturated water vapor environment. The surface‐swelled layer of the glass was removed by dissolving it in water, and birefringence of the newly revealed surface layer was measured. The presence of a constant negative tensile stress gradient was revealed by indicating that Case II diffusion in sodium trisilicate glass originates from this stress gradient, which overwhelms the more typical Fick's law concentration‐dependent flux.
Residual stress profiles in silica glass were measured after water diffusion treatment under 47.33 kPa (355 Torr) water vapor at 350 • C and 650 • C. Earlier, it was found that water solubility in silica glass exhibited peculiar time dependence: Solubility increased with time exceeding the normal water solubility expected from higher temperatures. Then, the water solubility decreased with time. It was hypothesized that the stress induced by water diffusion and its subsequent relaxation is responsible for the phenomenon. Residual surface stress generation in silica glass was found to correlate closely with surface hydroxyl concentration, systematically increasing until eventual surface stress relaxation results in stress decrease for treatments beyond 265 hours at 650 • C. This observation validates previous theories of time dependent diffusivity in silica glass.
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