Glass fiber dissolution in a physiological saline solution

Abstract

A technique developed to measure the dissolution rate of glass fibers in the laboratory under conditions approximating those thought to exist in the lung has been applied to 30 glass compositions in the SiO2-Al2O3-B2O3-CaO-MgO-BaO-Na2O system. Dissolution rates show an Arrhenius dependence on temperature with an activation energy near 64 kJ/mol. The rate increases with the pH value. Glass fiber dissolution is a leaching process which leaves behind a mechanically-weak layer consisting of SiO2 and Al2O3 . Dissolution morphology changes with dissolution rate, suggesting a change in dissolution mechanism. Dissolution rates vary with composition from 0.9 to 887 ng/(cm2 h). Al2O3 strongly decreases the dissolution rate, B2O3 , BaO, CaO, MgO, and Na2O increase the rate to about the same degree, and SiO2 has little effect.