Structure and Function of Window Glass and Pyrex

Window glass is a ternary mixture, while pyrex (after window glass, the most common form of commercial glass) is a quaternary. Building on our previous success in deriving the composition of window glass (sodium calcium silicate) without adjustable parameters, and borrowing from known reconstructed crystalline surfaces, we model pyrex as silica clusters with a specific ternary interface. Our global model explains the thermal expansivity contours of ternary sodium borosilicates, and it is consistent with the optimized resistance of pyrex to mechanical and thermal shocks. It suggests new directions for studying the nanoscopic structure of these remarkable materials.