Flaws on glass surfaces significantly reduce mechanical strength by concentrating applied stresses on their tips. Since these surface defects are formed by surface contact loading, such as scratching, it is crucial to enhance scratch resistance for high mechanical strength. In this regard, we investigate contributions of individual elements of alkali aluminosilicate glass (15Na₂O∙5MgO∙11Al₂O₃∙69SiO₂) to surface deformations during scratching by utilizing molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that the friction coefficient is inversely proportional to the amount of elastic deformation. Analyses of local atomic structure demonstrate that Mg and Al mainly contribute to the elastic response, whereas Na tends to heavily participate in plastic deformation. Chemical strengthening of glass further enhances the elastic behavior of Mg and Al and alters the characteristic of alkali elements from plastic to elastic participation. Atomic-level understanding of individual roles of glass elements is expected to contribute to developing advanced glasses with high surface damage resistance.

玻璃表面上的瑕疵通过将应力集中在其尖端上而大大降低了机械强度。由于这些表面缺陷是由表面接触载荷（例如刮擦）形成的，因此提高耐刮擦性以获得高机械强度至关重要。在这方面，我们研究了碱性铝硅酸盐玻璃（15Na ₂ O∙5MgO∙11Al ₂ O ₃ ∙69SiO ₂利用分子动力学模拟在刮擦过程中产生表面变形。发现摩擦系数与弹性变形量成反比。局部原子结构的分析表明，Mg和Al主要有助于弹性响应，而Na倾向于大量参与塑性变形。玻璃的化学强化进一步增强了Mg和Al的弹性，并将碱元素的特性从塑料变为弹性参与。原子级了解玻璃元素的个体作用有望有助于开发具有高表面抗损伤性的高级玻璃。