This session will address all fundamental aspects of glass formation, including experimental, modeling, and theoretical developments in our understanding of glass transition and relaxation. All glass-forming systems including oxide, non-oxide, metallic, and organic glasses will be covered. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, various relaxation phenomena and dynamical processes in the glass transition range including fragility, and dynamic heterogeneity. 

This symposium is devoted to advancing our fundamental understanding of crystallization in glasses and its importance in glass-ceramics and related materials. The symposium will cover experimental, characterization, as well as numerical/modeling aspects of nucleation and growth in inorganic, organic, and metallic materials.  

This symposium will present on recent advances on the structural characteristics of glasses and melts, crucial for both research and industrial applications. Contributions are sought on basic glass characterization and correlations between structure, properties, and processing. Highlighted techniques include magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray, neutron, and light scattering, as well as X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, and scanning probe and electron microscopies. Key topics encompass spectroscopic studies to reveal the structures of glasses and melts, but also experimental measurements of physical properties (viscosity, density, diffusivity, elemental partitioning), and computational methods such as molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations. This symposium aims to bring together specialists in the structural aspects of glasses and melts, as well as those working on macroscopic properties. It will provide a global view of glasses and liquids and cross the boundaries between them. 

This symposium will discuss the mechanical properties of disordered materials across multiple scales while bridging the fields of oxide and non-oxide glasses, as well as mechano-optical and mechanoelectrical couplings. We will consider the structural origin of elasticity, plasticity, and fracture with the objective of designing glasses with superior toughness, defect tolerance, and stiffness, combining mechanical and various functional properties. Particular attention shall be given to the identification of general, material-independent constitutive laws, which may be used as guidelines to improve the mechanical properties; the combination of experimental approaches and computational modeling of the stress response of glasses and early stages of damage infliction; and the interplay between size and time effects, stress corrosion, and the chemical aspect of fracture. The topics covered in this symposium include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • Dynamic fracture and brittleness, or crack initiation, including the application of in situ techniques 
  • Slow crack growth and stress corrosion cracking, the underlying chemistry and transport phenomena in high-stress fields 
  • Multiscale investigation of elasticity, plasticity, and hardness in relation to bulk topology through combining mechanical analyses with structural analyses 
  • Strategies for toughening inorganic oxide glasses as well as non-oxide including metallic glasses 
  • Theoretical, simulation, and experimental studies of nucleation and crystal growth in glasses and liquids 
  • The role of composition, structure, nucleating agents, and phase separation on crystallization 
  • Novel techniques for characterizing and inducing crystallization 
  • Predicting glass-ceramic generation 

This symposium aims to present and discuss the recent developments in both fundamental and applied research in chalcogenide glasses and amorphous semimetals (e.g., phase-change materials, thermoelectronic materials, and solid-state electrolytes). Topics of interest include structural characterization; structure–property relationship; and advances in physical properties, such as optical, electrical, thermal, crystallization, glass forming, and mechanical behaviors. 

Proposed Sessions/Topics 

  • Glass formation and structural relaxation 
  • Glass crystallization and glass-ceramics 
  • Structural characterizations of glasses and melts 
  • Mechanical properties of glasses 
  • Chalcogenide glasses and amorphous materials 

Symposium Organizer(s) 

  • Katelyn Kirchner, Celsian, USA 
  • Yueh-Ting (Tim) Shih, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan 
  • Pierre Lucas; University of Arizona, USA 

Point(s) of Contact 

Symposium Sponsor(s) 

  • Glass and Optical Materials Division 

 

ACerS Spring Meeting

April 12 • 16, 2026