PNNL

Abstract

Raman spectroscopic study was performed on a series of sodium-aluminoborosilicate glasses with Gd2O3 from 0 up to its solubility (13.58 mol% or 47 mass%). Experimentally measured spectra were fitted using a Gaussian function for each individual band without any restrictions of the band position, width, and intensity. The evolution of the bands derived from the curve fitting was discussed within a contest of rare earth element partitioning, as its dissolution mechanism, in the borosilicate glasses. The evolution of the Raman bands was shown to well correlate with Gd cations partitioning in the borate-rich environment at low Gd2O3 concentration, Gd2O3/[1/3B2O3] 1. Raman bands near 1420 and 710 cm-1 suggest the presence of a local Gd-metaborate environment, which appeared to remain over an entire Gd2O3 concentration region. The bands near 300 and 910 cm-1 indicates formation of Gd-O-Gd clusters in the silicate-rich environment at high Gd2O3 concentrations.