Ion-exchanged sodium silicate glasses were studied using molecular dynamics simulations with empirical potentials. The sodium was partly replaced by silver. This resulted in the generation of Ag particles, after reduction of the Ag ions and subsequent annealing. The theoretical calculations explored the modification of the glass structure; especially by the diffusion processes and mechanisms. A quantitative analysis of the diffusion was performed by calculating and interpreting the mean square displacement, as well as the velocity autocorrelation functions.

Molecular Dynamics Investigations of Silver Diffusion in Glass. Timpel, D., Scheerschmidt, K.: Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 1998, 232-234, 245-51