US Patent 11773014 Toughened carbon-containing glass materials

In some implementations, a carbon-containing glass material includes a surface-to-air interface and an interphase region extending from the surface-to-air interface along a direction to a depth within the carbon-containing glass material. The surface-to-air interface may be exposed to ambient air, and the interphase region may include a plurality of few layer graphene (FLG) nanoplatelets formed in response to recombination and/or self-nucleation of a plurality of carbon-containing radicals implanted within the interphase region. The FLG nanoplatelets have a non-periodic orientation configured to at least partially inhibit formation or propagation of microcracks and/or micro-voids in the carbon-containing glass material. The glass material may also include a compressive stress layer disposed between the interphase region and the surface-to-air interface of the carbon-containing glass material, the compressive stress layer induced by ion bombardment of the carbon-containing glass material by a plurality of ionized inert gas particles.