Structure and Dissolution Properties of Phosphate Glasses for Glass Fertilizer

Abstract

For usage of glass fertilizer, physical and dissolution properties were investigated according to variation of the SiO2 and K2O contents in silicate glasses. In glass forming region, K2O/P2O5 0-0.24, SiO2/(SiO2+P2O5) 0-0.29 and CaO/P2O5 0-1.00 were fabricated as clear glass in K2O-CaO-SiO2-P2O5 glass system. The glass transition temperature (Tg) and softening temperature (Ts) were gradually shifted to the higher temperature range according to increase of SiO2 contents. The K2O contents, which could cause the structure change from network structure to polymeric chain structure, have direct proportion with the thermal expansion coefficient and inverse proportion with Tg and Ts. The change of the K2O/P2O5 ratio was a main factor to control chemical durability and physical properties such as density and hardness. In the abnormal glass properties such as fast dissolution in aqueous solution, it was presented that the glass can be a good candidate for agriculture fertilizer.