Amorphous materials: Properties, structure, and durability: Structure of Mg- and Mg/Ca aluminosilicate glasses: 27Al NMR and Raman spectroscopy investigations

The structure and properties of glasses and melts in the MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (MAS) and CaO-MgOAl2O3- SiO2 (CMAS) systems play an important role in Earth and material sciences. Aluminum has a crucial influence in these systems, and its environment is still questioned. In this paper, we present new results using Raman spectroscopy and 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance on MAS and CMAS glasses. We propose an Al/Si tetrahedral distribution in the glass network in different Qn species for silicon and essentially in Q4 and VAl for aluminum. For the CMAS glasses, an increase of VAl and VIAl is clearly visible as a function of the increase of Mg/Ca ratio in the (Ca,Mg)3Al2Si3O12 (garnet) and (Ca,Mg)AlSi2O8 (anorthite) glass compositions. In the MAS system, the proportion of VAl and VIAl increases with decreasing SiO2 and, similarly with calcium aluminosilicate glasses, the maximum of VAl is located in the center of the ternary system.