Interaction of voids and nanoductility in silica glass.

Multimillion-to-billion-atom molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the interaction of voids in silica glass under hydrostatic tension. Nanometer size cavities nucleate in intervoid ligaments as a result of the expansion of Si-O rings due to a bond-switching mechanism, which involves bond breaking between Si-O and bond formation between that Si and a nonbridging O. With further increase in strain, nanocracks form on void surfaces and ligaments fracture through the growth and coalescence of ligament nanocavities in a manner similar to that observed in ductile metallic alloys.