ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and AFM study of heavy weathered surface of barium crystal glass

Andrea Černá, Branislav Hruška, Darinka Tokarčíková, Mária Chromčíková, and Marek Liška

Vitrum Laugaricio, Joint Glass Center of IIC SAS, TnU AD, and FChPT STU, Trenčín, Slovakia

E-mail: andrea.cerna@tnuni.sk

Abstract: Glass samples of barium crystal glass (handmade and produced by automatic technology) were weathered at controlled conditions. On the weathered glass surface, the high number of corrosion products of approximate size of (5–10) μm was found. On the unweathered (native) glass surfaces, only small non-homogeneities were observed. The micro-Raman spectroscopy was used for study of corrosion products observed by the optical microscopy. It was shown that surface roughness determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used for the quantification of degree of weathering. The stoichiometric corrosion products can be identified by Raman spectroscopy by application of the proper spectral database. The proposed method of quantification of the degree of weathering was confirmed by the coincidence of AFM results obtained for two kinds of glass samples (handmade and automatic produced) with the same chemical composition but with the different character of macroscopic surface irregularities. On the other hand, the micro-Raman spectroscopy confirmed the same chemical character of weathering process in both cases.

Keywords: Barium crystal glass ; Glass weathering ; Surface roughness ; Corrosion products 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-018-0464-0

Chemical Papers 72 (9) 2153–2158 (2018)