One presents the results of numerical simulations of glass leaching. The glass is modelled as a random mixture of partly and totally soluble species, which represent silica, and boron or alkali oxides, respectively. It is shown that the dissolution rate and the thickness of the altered surface layer are strongly dependent on the glass composition, whereas the equilibrium solubility is not. The dependence of the layer thickness on the glass surface area to solution volume ratio is also emphasized. The protective role of the surface layer is shown to arise from its restructuring after the extraction of the soluble species. The simulation results are compared to an experimental study performed on series of SiO2-B2O3-Na2O glasses.

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