Abstract：
Atom probe tomography (APT) has been utilized to investigate the microstructure of two model borosilicate glasses designed to understand the solubility limits of phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5). This component is found in certain high-level radioactive defence wastes destined for vitrification, where phase separation can potentially lead to a number of issues relating to the processing of the glass and its long-term chemical and structural stability. The development of suitable focused ion beam (FIB)-preparation routes and APT analysis conditions were initially determined for the model glasses, before examining their detailed microstructures. In a 3.0 mol% P2O5-doped glass, both visual inspection and sensitive statistical analysis of the APT data show homogeneous microstructures, while raising the content to 4.0 mol% initiates the formation of phosphorus-enriched nanoscale precipitates. This study confirms the expected inhomogeneities and phase separation of these glasses and offers routes to characterizing these at near-atomic scale resolution using APT.
摘要：
原子探针断层扫描（APT）已用于研究两种模型硼硅酸盐玻璃的微观结构，这些玻璃旨在了解五氧化二磷（P2O5）的溶解度极限。该成分存在于某些用于玻璃化的高放射性国防废物中，其中相分离可能导致许多与玻璃加工及其长期化学和结构稳定性有关的问题。初步确定了合适的聚焦离子束（FIB）制备路线和APT分析条件，在检查它们详细的微观结构之前。在3.0摩尔%P2O5掺杂玻璃中,APT数据的视觉检查和敏感统计分析均显示出均匀的微观结构，将含量提高到4.0mol%时，会引发富集磷的纳米级沉淀物的形成。这项研究证实了这些玻璃的预期不均匀性和相分离，并提供了使用APT以近原子尺度分辨率表征这些玻璃的途径。
