Gas Solubility in Relation to the Structures of Glasses and Liquids

Abstract

Alkali borate and B2O3 glasses containing large concentrations of gaseous noncondensed compounds (including Ar and H2) were synthesized at high temperatures and pressures; the solubilities of the gases were determined. These materials quenched from the liquid state had glass networks with densities lower than those typical of normal glasses not containing such gases. This result is consistent with dilution in the liquid state, where the gas dissolves by generating space for itself in the melt rather than by filling interstices. For Henry's law to be obeyed, as it was in the present work, the gas could not fill large interstices only, since high pressures (up to 9 kbars) tend to destroy these interstices. The solubility data obtained are consistent with the trends predicted by a simplified theory that makes use of the surface tensions of the liquids and the molecular sizes of the gases in a system.