Diffusion-Controlled Attack of Glass Surfaces by Aqueous Solutions

Simple binary alkali oxide silica glasses and some ternary glasses derived from the binary compositions by substituting alkaline earth oxides for silica were subjected to the action of water and various aqueous solutions (pH 1.4 to 10.9) and the kinetics of the reactions were studied. In every case a root-time relation of extraction, suggesting an ion-exchange controlled diffusion mechanism, was observed, followed by a time relation of extraction. The rate and duration of diffusion depended on the pH of the solution and the reaction temperature. Above a critical pH the hydrogen ion concentration of the attacking solution was so low that the surface sites began to be occupied preferentially by alkali ions, increasing their concentration at the leached layer-solution boundary and slowing the diffusion process. For potassium glasses only, where alkali ion distribution in the leached layer was exponential, the diffusion coefficients calculated from the concentration profiles agreed well with those calculated from the extraction of potassium ions by a diffusion mechanism.