Considerable progress has been made in understanding the nature and behaviour of glass surfaces since the Xth ICG in Kyoto, 1974. The excellent Rolla Conference edited by D E Day, firmly established that the surface-environment interactions of glass can now be treated as a science. Characterization of the composition and structure of a glass surface has been made possible through development of a number of new surface analysis techniques. Through the use of these tools, it is now a firmly established fact that glass surfaces consist of complex compositional profiles of all the constituents in the glasses. Bulk composition, melt history, fabrication variables such as furnace and lehr atmospheres, and environmental history all influence the compositional profiles characteristic of a given glass article. Direct relationships between surface compositional profiles and physical and chemical properties thus can be established. In fact, it is the ability to characterise the glass surface sufficiently to relate the surface to glass processing on the one hand and glass properties on the other that makes the study of glass surfaces a bonafide materials science.
