The influence of fiber drawing on mechanical and vibrational properties of RE-doped sol-gel silica is disclosed by a comparison of bulk silica, before and after the melting process, and fibers.

The mechanical characterization is carried out by nanoindentation technique: hardness and elastic modulus are found to be consistent with those of Corning 7980 reference glass, and related to the elasto-plastic behavior of the glassy material. Our results evidence an increase of the resistance of fibers to fracture under an applied load, ascribed to drawing-induced residual stresses. Their impact on sol-gel silica mechanical properties is further disclosed by complementary vibrational characterization by Raman and FTIR spectroscopies, confirming the occurrence of a modification of the structural features after the drawing process and of residual stresses in the fibers.

The overall results highlight the role of the fiber drawing in improving the glass mechanical properties, causing a slight rearrangement of the silica structure.

通过比较熔融过程之前和之后的本体二氧化硅和纤维，揭示了纤维拉伸对掺RE的溶胶-凝胶二氧化硅的机械和振动性能的影响。

机械表征通过纳米压痕技术进行：硬度和弹性模量与康宁7980参考玻璃的硬度和弹性模量一致，并且与玻璃材料的弹塑性行为有关。我们的结果表明，在施加载荷的情况下，由于拉伸引起的残余应力，纤维的抗断裂性增加。通过拉曼光谱和FTIR光谱的互补振动表征进一步揭示了它们对溶胶-凝胶二氧化硅机械性能的影响，证实了拉伸过程后结构特征的改变以及纤维中的残余应力的发生。

总体结果突出了纤维拉伸在改善玻璃机械性能中的作用，从而引起二氧化硅结构的轻微重排。