Tailoring effect of Y2O3 on water resistance of Na2O–ZnO–Al2O3–B2O3 glasses

Abstract

To explore the improving effect of Y2O3 on the water resistance of xY2O3-(100–x)(0.05Al2O3-0.15ZnO-0.15Na2O-0.65B2O3) (x = 0, 0.7 mol%, 1.4 mol%, 2.1 mol%, 2.8 mol%) glasses, glass structure and ion migration characteristics were respectively characterized by an infrared spectrometer and an electrochemical workstation. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and inductively coupled plasm-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) were used to comprehensively analyze the alteration products. The experimental results show that with the increase of Y2O3 content, the mass loss per unit area of the glass is significantly reduced, and pH in leaching solution has the same change trend with mass loss of the glass, which indicates the improving effect of Y2O3 addition on the studied glass. The content of [BO4] structural unit and dc conductivity of glass increase firstly and then decrease with the increase of Y2O3 content, and reach a maximum at x = 0.7 mol%. Although addition of Y2O3 plays the role in the changes of glass structure and ion migration characteristics, the more important influence of Y2O3 is on the glass surface alteration layer. Y and Zn elements are enriched on the glass surface and finally transformed into an alteration layer, moreover, the adhesion between the alteration layers and the glass matrix is enhanced with the increase of Y2O3 content, which effectively blocks the further interdiffusion between the water molecules and the glass matrix.