Reaction of Ammonia with Fumed Silica

The reaction between fumed silica and ammonia has been studied between 600° and 1200°C. Up to 24 wt% nitrogen can be introduced into vitreous silica by adjusting the partial pressure of ammonia, temperature, and reaction time. The experiments show that the amount of nitrogen incorporated into silica has a linear dependence on the partial pressure of ammonia and a square root dependence on the reaction time. The activation energy for the reaction was found to be 76.0 kJ/mol. The nitrided powders as well as several hotpressed samples were crystallized at 1550° to 1650°C. Silica glasses containing 0 to 1 wt% nitrogen crystallize to cristobalite. Glasses containing 2 to 10 wt% nitrogen are stable against devitrification in nitrogen, even at 1650°C. Glasses with 12 to 28 wt% nitrogen crystallize to fine-grained Si₂N₂O with residual glass.