Study of the silver diffusion in soda lime and borosilicate glasses: effects on mechanical properties of glasses

It is well known that silver nanoparticles have been used for centuries as a yellow tint for glasses, which made the silver a revolutionary colorant used to paint the windows of the religious places. An ion exchange non-conventional process comely called medieval pigment without using molten salts has long been used as a method for coloring the glass. In the same subject, this work aims to study the effect of the silver nanoparticles diffusion in a soda lime and borosilicate glasses on the mechanical proprieties. For that, a soda lime and borosilicate glasses have been painted. Once stained, the glasses were heat treated at temperatures close to their transition temperatures (Tg). A parametric study was undertaken to determine at first the effect of the silver concentration in the stain spread on glass. In addition, the effect of the painting conditions (heat treatment duration and chemical composition) of on the formation, the coloration and the mechanical properties were studied. The characterization was made using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman confocal spectroscopy, SEM, nano-indentation. The obtained results shows that the coloration intensity of both glass types painted by the conventional method differs and depends essentially on the amount of alkali ions in the glass. Moreover, it was found that the silver nanoparticles have a significant effect on the mechanical properties of glasses.