| The thesis focuses on the interfacial phenomena and molecular confining effect of fluid in nanoporous glasses. The samples used are Corning Vycor nanoporous glasses that have 28% and 40% volume porosities, 207$msp2$/gram and 86 $msp2$/gram internal surface areas, and 2.3 and 4.4 nanometer pore radii, respectively, for two sets of nanoporous glasses.;Experiments on pressure driven flow of air indicates that the tortuosity factors of both nanoporous glasses are less than one. The author believes that nanometers may be the lower bound limit that Knudsen diffusion is valid.;At room temperature, a damping peak at about 1.0 Hz and 6.0 Hz are observed for water-infiltrated porous glasses of pore radii 2.3 and 4.4 nanometers, respectively. The peak disappears at 60% and 42% water content for 2.3 nanometer and 4.4 nanometer pore radii, respectively. These damping tests suggest that water forms an interfacial layer on the internal surface of the nanoporous glasses. DSC tests, as well as electric current versus water content tests, confirm the existence of the interfacial layer. The interfacial layer is about 1 nanometer thick. The interfacial layer explains the property difference between the water confined in the nanoporous glass and those of bulk water.;At about $-$100$spcirc$C, ice confined in the nanoporous glass gives a strong damping peak and an associated storage modulus relaxation. The author has improved the current theoretical formulation of the disorder-induced piezoelectricity of ice. For an ice specimen under an applied stress, it is the square of the dipole moment that is proportional to the volume of the ice specimen. Since pores naturally divide ice into subspecimens, the dimension of the pores ensures that the dipole correlation ranges will not exceed the pore sizes. The small pore size in the nanometer range permits a strong disorder-induced piezoelectric effect. |
