Dissolution behavior of phosphate glasses

The solubility of phosphate glasses in aqueous solutions can be tailored through compositional control to obtain a wide range of ion release rates required for a variety of applications. The principal objective of this dissertation is to advance the understanding of the dissolution behavior of phosphate glasses in aqueous environments. Two families of glasses, sodium-iron phosphate (NFP) glasses and sodium-calcium phosphate (NCP) glasses, were evaluated. The dissolution behavior depends on the phosphate anions that constitute the glass structure and the associated metal (Me) cations. The phosphate glass structure, defined by the distribution and average size of phosphate anions and depending on the O/P and Me/P ratios, was determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography and Raman spectroscopy; Mössbauer spectrometry provided information about the coordination environment of iron. This structural information is used to explain the compositional dependence of the thermal properties and crystallization tendency of NFP glasses and melts, and the aqueous corrosion behavior of NFP and NCP glasses. Phosphate glass dissolution data are fit to different kinetic models which describe the glass dissolution mechanisms. Information about the glass composition and structure is used to predict changes in the pH of leachate solutions, and a model based on the Gibbs free energy of hydration used to explain the compositional dependence of the glass dissolution rates --Abstract, page iv