Migration and segregation of sodium under β-irradiation in nuclear glasses.

Raman, 11B Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and X-ray Photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy investigations have been made on a series of β-irradiated aluminoborosilicate glasses. This work shows the following changes of the glass structure under β-irradiation: (i) an increase of glass polymerization, (ii) an increase of boron in a trigonal environment and (iii) no modification in the aluminum environment during irradiation. These glass modifications under β-irradiation can be correlated with the migration of sodium outside of the Si and B glass network formers. Moreover, XPS experiments show a strong decrease of the sodium concentration at the surface of these irradiated glasses. This study presents therefore strong evidences of migration and segregation processes of sodium during a β-irradiation in the bulk for these simplified aluminoborosilicate glass compositions