Determining the boundary conditions governing phase separation processes of borate-glass systems

• Applicant: Dr. Sharon Koppka
• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405941288

Immiscibility in borate glasses is a common phenomenon. A series of experimental studies have been carried out, where sodium borate glasses were enriched with metal oxides (non-silica). In the case of Na20-B2O3-Y203-Zr02 glasses, a porous glass was obtained after heat treatment and selective leaching. To our present knowledge no systematic investigations of the rather complex microstructure forming processes in metal oxide containing borate glasses to produce porous glasses have been carried out.This especially include ZrO2 or/and CeO2 containing sodiumborate glasses. To this end, two ternary systems (ZrO2-Na2O-B2O3, CeO2-Na2O-B2O3) and one quaternary system (ZrO2-CeO2-Na2O-B2O3) are under investigation. The studies focus on three main topics: Determination of the Impact of glass composition on thermal and physical properties, fundamental research on phase separation processes and the investigation of the impact of leaching conditions to synthesize porous glasses with different compositions. The goal of this project is to gain a deeper understanding of the microstructure forming processes in borate glasses to obtain “new” porous glasses consisting of high amounts of metal oxides. These porous glasses have the potential to develop a new kind of porous glass ceramics: the controlled porous glass ceramics.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Cooperation Partners: Privatdozent Dr. Marko Bertmer; Professorin Dr. Edda Rädlein