Revealing the scientific root of scratch formation on soda-lime-silica glass surface: Digging deeper into structural modification of glass surface

Abstract Scratch formation on glass surfaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon induced by the virtue of plastic deformation, often accompanied by radial, lateral or median cracks with consequent chipping and brittle fracture caused during and after the event of dynamic abrasion instigated by shear stress by another harder material. This paper deals with the fundamental aspect of scratch formation on soda-lime-silica (SLS) glass surfaces. A constructive combination of surface-sensitive characterization tools including field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), laser scanning microscopy (LSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and instrumented indentation technique (IIT), helped to investigate the structural cause of generation of visible scratches on SLS glass surfaces. The experimental evidences propose that a silicate network possessing a mechanically-weakening structural characteristic in terms of network connectivity confined to the region between 5 nm and 100 nm below the glass surface, is likely to cause a destructive surface scratch eminently visible to naked eyes.