Topological Origins of Flexibility and Internal Stress in Sodium Aluminosilicate Glasses

In the framework of topological constraint theory, network glasses are classified as flexible, stressed--rigid, or isostatic if the number of atomic constraints is smaller, larger, or equal to the number of atomic degrees of freedom. Here, based on molecular dynamics simulations, we show that sodium aluminosilicate glasses exhibit a flexible-to-stressed--rigid transition driven by their composition. This transition manifests itself by a loss of atomic mobility and an onset of internal atomic stress. Importantly, we find that the flexible-to-rigid (i.e., loss of internal flexibility) and unstressed-to-stressed transitions (i.e., onset of internal stress) do not occur at the same composition. This suggests that the isostatic state (i.e., rigid but unstressed) is achieved within a window rather than at a threshold composition.