High Temperature Stability of Sol-Gel-Derived SiOC Glasses

The high temperature stability of sol-gel-derived SiOC glasses has been investigated in order to understand the role played by the presence of a free-carbon phase in the amorphous oxycarbide network. Therefore, pure and excess free-carbon containing SiOC glasses have been prepared from hybrid gels and used for the high temperature stability experiments. Moreover, the possible effects of the sample size with respect to local kinetics and thermodynamics and of the testing environment have also been investigated. Results show that all these parameters play a crucial role in defining the high temperature behavior of SiOC glasses.