Composition‐dependent leaching behavior in ion‐irradiated borosilicate glasses: A corrosion mechanism study

Abstract

Evaluating the corrosion behavior of borosilicate glass after irradiation holds vital importance for the safe geological disposal of high‐level radioactive waste. This study examined the leaching properties of three kinds of sodium‐borosilicate (RNa2O‒B2O3‒KSiO2, denoted as “NBS”) glasses with the same R but varying K under 5 MeV Xe‐ion radiation to decipher the correlation between the corrosion mechanism and glass composition. After Xe‐ion radiation, an increase in [BO3] units was observed, indicative of the glass network depolymerization. Irradiated glasses exhibited a more significant change in [BO3] units over the leaching time compared to their pristine counterparts. There is a strong correlation between the initial dissolution rates of pristine glasses, the K value, and the proportion of Na. Additionally, the initial Si dissolution rate of the NBS glasses has been accelerated by heavy ion irradiation. For the same R value over the glass series, the initial Si dissolution rates in ternary borosilicate glasses change at similar rates after irradiation. This study concluded that the variation trend in the initial dissolution rate of Si and Na differs under ion radiation.