Triboluminescence of glasses and quartz

The triboluminescent spectra of a variety of glasses and of crystalline quartz were measured while specimens were cut with a rotating diamond-impregnated saw blade. The spectra, which resemble the emission of a blackbody radiator, were recorded using an image-intensifier spectrograph. The data were intensity-corrected before being fitted to blackbody emission curves. Emission temperatures of around 1850 K for armor plate glass, 2100 K for Pyrex glass, 2400 K for soda lime glass, 2300 K for high-density lead glass, and 2800 K for cut quartz were obtained. It was found that the blackbody temperatures could be accounted for by a model in which a rectangular-shaped high-temperature zone, uniformly heated by energy released by plastic deformation near the crack tip, is supposed to propagate with the crack velocity [R. Weichert and K. Schonert, Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 31, 363-379 (1978)]. The measured blackbody temperatures imply zone widths of around 1×10−9 m. The spectrum from impact-fractured quartz was also measured; it was found to have a photoluminescent origin.