Determination Of Inert Gas Solubilities In Borosilicate Glass Melts

The solubilities of noble gases: helium, neon, argon & krypton in a hard borosilicate glass melt were determined using a saturation outgassing method. It is shown that the solubility decreases with increasing atomic size in the order He>Ne>Ar>Kr. The solubilities of He, Ne & Ar increase slightly with increasing temperature. The thermodynamic values for the temperature dependence of Henry's coefficient [molgas/molglass bar] were determined to be H=32.4+20.3 kj/mol & S=-75.3+12.7 J/mol K for He, H=37.2+16.0 kJ/mol & S=-78.8+9.8 J/mol/K for Ne & H=31.2+3.3kJ/mol & S=-93.5+2.0 J/mol K for Ar. The outgassing method was also used to determine the residual argon concentration in a commercial hard borosilicate glass.