Structure evolution of the silica glass under the vibration field through molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract Silica glass has found wide applications, including space shuttle windows, optical fibers, and deep ultraviolet light lens elements, due to its excellent optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. However, understandings of its structure change under the vibration field are limited in literature. In this work, the structure of silica glass and its behavior under the vibration field have been investigated through molecular dynamics simulations. The short and medium‐range structures, including coordination number, Q n species distribution, pair distribution function, and bond angle distribution, were analyzed. It was found that the overall and local structures of silica glass showed periodic changes under the vibration field. The root‐mean‐square displacements as well as the kinetic energies of the atoms in the system were further analyzed. The results show that there is a periodic transformation of kinetic and potential energies. In addition, the kinetic energy decreases and is converted into the thermal energy during the vibration, which is confirmed by the increase of the system temperature. This can explain the thermoelastic loss mechanism in energy dissipation from literature. This work reveals the structure evolution and energy change of glass under the vibration field from atomistic level, which provides important understandings for related researches.