Structures of Sodium Silicate Glass

Abstract

The structural model of sodium silicate glass plays a crucial role in understanding the properties and the nature of binary glass and other more complicated silicate glasses. This work proposes a structural model for sodium silicate glass based on the medium-range ordering structure of silica glass and the information found from the Na2O-SiO2 phase diagram. This new model is different from previous ones. First, the sodium silica glass is both structurally and chemically heterogeneous on the nanometer scale. Secondly, the sodium cation distribution is Na2O concentration-dependent. In order to reflect the structural change with Na2O concentration, it requires two different schematic graphs to present the glass structure. The model can be extended to other binary and multiple component silicate glasses and can be experimentally verified.