The viscosity is rate-limiting for many processes in glassy materials such as homogenisation and crystallisation. Changes in the viscous flow behaviour in conditions of long-term irradiation are of particular interest for glassy materials used in nuclear installations as well as for nuclear waste immobilising glasses. We analyse the viscous flow behaviour of oxide amorphous materials in conditions of electron-irradiation using the congruent bond lattice model of oxide materials accounting for the flow-mediating role of broken bonds termed configurons. An explicit equation of viscosity was obtained which is in agreement with experimental data for non-irradiated glasses and shows for irradiated glasses, first, a significant decrease of viscosity, and, second, a stepwise reduction of the activation energy of flow. An equation for glass-transition temperature was derived which shows that irradiated glasses have lower glass transition temperatures. Intensive electron irradiation of glasses causes their fluidisation due to non-thermal bond breaking and can occur below the glass transition temperature. Due to surface tension forces fluidisation of glasses at enough high electron flux densities can result in modification of nano-size volumes and particles such as those experimentally observed under TEM electron beams.

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