Water makes glass elastically stiffer under high-pressure

Because of its potentially broad industrial applications, a new synthesis of elastically stiffer and stronger glass has been a long standing interest in material science. Various chemical composition and synthesis condition have so far been extensively tested to meet this requirement. Since hydration of matter, in general, significantly reduces its stiffness, it has long been believed that an anhydrous condition has to be strictly complied in synthesis processes. Here we report elastic wave velocities of hydrous SiO₂ glass determined in-situ up to ultrahigh-pressures of ~180 gigapascals, revealing that the elastic wave velocities of hydrous glass unexpectedly show the rapid increase with pressure and eventually become greater than those of anhydrous glass above ~15 gigapascals. Furthermore, anomalous change in the velocity gradient at ~100 gigapascals, probably caused by the change in Si-O coordination number from 6 to 6+, was also found at ~40 gigapascals lower pressure condition than that previously reported in anhydrous silica glass, implying that water is a highly effective impurity to make SiO₂ glass much denser. This experimental discovery strongly indicates that hydration combined with pressurization is highly effective to synthesize elastically stiffer glass materials, which offers a new insight into the fabrication of industrially useful novel materials.