Effect of adsorbed water on mechanical and mechanochemical properties of silicate glasses

During the manufacturing and in-service process, the water molecules from the humid or liquid environments are ubiquitous on glass surface, which can alter the various surface properties such as adhesion, stress corrosion, indentation, scratch, and wear behaviors when the stress is applied. In this brief review, the experimental techniques on measuring the adsorbed water molecules on glass surface are discussed and the effects of adsorbed water on mechanical and mechanochemical properties of silicate glass are discussed. In particular, recent advances on the effect of adsorbed water on the adhesion, indentation, scratch, and mechanochemical wear behaviors of silicate glass are discussed. Overall, the understanding on effect of adsorbed water on mechanical and mechanochemical properties of glasses are outlined in this review article, and thereby, some open questions are proposed to design next generation of tough functional glasses with improved both mechanical and mechanochemical properties.