Diffusion of water in silica glass

The diffusion of water into silica glass is modeled to result from the diffusion of molecular water into the glass and its reaction with the silicon-oxygen network to form SiOH groups. Equations for this diffusion-reaction mechanism are presented and compared with experimental diffusion profiles. At temperatures above about 500 °C the reaction goes to equilibrium, but at lower temperatures it does not, leading to a time dependence of the concentration of surface-reacted OH groups and of their apparent diffusion coefficient. At higher temperatures, the OH groups are nearly immobile, but diffuse far enough to sample neighboring OH groups, leading to a bimolecular reverse reaction. At lower temperatures only OH pairs react, giving a first-order reaction. When water tagged with O¹⁸ diffuses into silica, the O¹⁸ exchanges with O¹⁶ in the silicon-oxygen network of the glass. This process is also controlled by the rate of diffusion of molecular water into the glass, and the rate of O¹⁸-O¹⁶ exchange. This diffusion-reaction mechanism gives a unified description of the diffusion of water in silica glass from 160 °C to 1200 °C at least.