Simulation of Natural Corrosion by Vapor Hydration Test: Seven-Year Results

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have investigated the alteration behavior of synthetic basalt and SRL 165 borosilicate waste glasses that had been reacted in water vapor at 70°C for time periods up to seven years. The nature and extent of corrosion of glasses have been determined by characterizing the reacted glass surface with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Alteration in 70°C laboratory tests was compared to that which occurs at 150–200°C and also with Hawaiian basaltic glasses of 480 to 750 year old subaerially altered in nature. Synthetic basalt and waste glasses, both containing about 50 wt % SiO2, were found to react with water vapor to form an amorphous hydrated gel that contained small amounts of clay, nearly identical to palagonite layers formed on naturally altered basaltic glass. This result implies that the corrosion reaction in nature can be simulated with a vapor hydration test. These tests also provide a means for measuring the corrosion kinetics, which are difficult to determine by studying natural samples because alteration layers have often spalled off the samples and we have only limited knowledge of the conditions under which alteration occurred.