A Thirty-Year Gap: Reviving All-Nitride Glasses as Processable, High-Performance Materials

Abstract

This study revisits oxygen-free, all-nitride glasses as a distinct class of high-performance materials, originally reported three decades ago by Grande, Holloway, McMillan, and Angell. A novel glass family at the time, such glass systems have remained unreplicated, largely due to the highly specialized experimental conditions required for their synthesis. With contemporary advances, such constraints are no longer prohibitive. Rather, in light of the persistent challenges in enhancing the performance of conventional glass systems, all-nitride glasses are reconsidered herein as a potentially viable class of processable materials that combine the formability of glasses with ceramic-level performance–without compromising optical transparency. Building upon progress in the modeling and computational evaluation of glass properties, a thermodynamic and semi-empirical framework is established to delineate the accessible chemical space and to estimate key properties, including liquidus temperature, density, elastic modulus, and refractive index. This approach enables assessment of the attainable property realm, which is shown to far surpass that of oxide glasses, consistent with experimental trends observed in oxynitride systems. Prospective processing routes, functionalization strategies, and high-performance applications are discussed in light of overcoming supply chain risks associated with materials in current use.