Microhardness of some glassy nanocomposites

Abstract This study is based on the role of the heat-treatment process on the mechanical behavior and performance belonging to the inorganic glass-nanocomposites. Vicker's microhardness of the system 0.3Ag2O-0.7(0.075ZnO-0.925MoO3) with applied indentation load ranging from 0.04905 to 0.981 N has been studied extensively. The variation of microhardness has been observed from resultant data; which may be caused by structural disorders, crack, irregular grain distribution, and void spaces in the glassy network. It is found that every sample exhibits the typical reverse indentation size effect (RISE) behavior due to elastic and plastic deformation in the glass matrix. This RISE characteristic of the glass sample has been verified by some different theoretical models. Due to prolong heat-treatment, the dramatic change in microhardness value of the system has been observed, which may be the result of irregular distribution of grain and void spaces in the glass matrix.