Electric field‐induced softening (EFIS) is a recently discovered phenomenon leading to significant reduction in the furnace temperature at which glass softens under the application of DC voltage. Unfortunately, it is accompanied by local compositional changes due to migration of ions that could limit its usefulness. To overcome this drawback, we have investigated the same phenomenon using AC voltage, that is, AC‐EFIS on a sodium disilicate glass and a 50/50 mixed lithium‐sodium disilicate glass of very different ionic resistivity yet similar network structure. The results show that the magnitude of EFIS temperature reduction is significantly greater for AC compared to DC for both glass compositions. The enhancement of EFIS under AC voltage appears to be due to a more uniform power dissipation and self‐healing of changes than under DC voltage. This uniformity allows for the overall sample temperature to increase throughout the bulk and provides a better technique for practical applications than the DC case which produces potentially undesirable changes, especially in the anode region.

中文翻译：

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交流电场诱导的碱金属硅酸盐玻璃的软化

电场感应软化（EFIS）是最近发现的现象，可导致炉温显着降低，在施加直流电压的情况下玻璃可在该温度下软化。不幸的是，由于离子的迁移，它伴随着局部成分的变化，这可能会限制其用途。为了克服这个缺点，我们研究了使用交流电压的相同现象，即在二硅酸钠玻璃和50/50混合锂钠硅酸钠玻璃上的AC-EFIS，其离子电阻率非常不同，但网络结构相似。结果表明，对于两种玻璃组合物，AC的EFIS温度降低幅度均明显大于DC。在交流电压下，EFIS的增强似乎是由于比直流电压下更均匀的功耗和变化的自愈能力所致。