Structural origin of the anomalous density maximum in silica and alkali silicate glasses

Silica, sharing the same tetrahedral order and many structural, thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies with water, has been speculated to have a density increase upon melting similar to water. In this work, an increase in density upon melting cristobalite silica and a shallow density maximum followed by a density minimum during cooling of silica liquid are observed in classical molecular dynamics simulations. The density maximum gradually diminishes with the increase in alkali size/content in alkali silicate glasses. The structural origin of the anomalous density maximum in silica is revealed by detailed structural analysis. During the cooling process, a range of rings with different sizes form in liquid silica, with 6-member rings being the most dominant, which cause the silica network to open up and compensate the regular volume shrinkage upon cooling. These two competing factors lead to a density maximum, but to a less extent than that observed in melting of cristobalite silica. With the increase in modifier size/content in the alkali silicate glasses, the connectivity of silica network gradually breaks down; the population of 6-member rings decrease with the increase in smaller or larger rings, therefore the density maximum becomes less obvious and eventually disappears.