Statistics of silicate units in binary glasses.

In this paper, we derive a new model to determine the distribution of silicate units in binary glasses (or liquids). The model is based on statistical mechanics and assumes grand canonical ensemble of silicate units which exchange energy and network modifiers from the reservoir. This model complements experimental techniques, which measure short range order in glasses such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The model has potential in calculating the amounts of liquid-liquid phase segregation and crystal nucleation, and it can be easily extended to more complicated compositions. The structural relaxation of the glass as probed by NMR spectroscopy is also reported, where the model could find its usefulness.