THE STUDY IN DIFFUSION MECHANISM BY VORONOI POLYHEDRON IN SODIUM TETRA-SILICATE MELT

Abstract

Molecular dynamic simulation is carried out for Sodium tetra-silicate (NS4) melt at 1873 K and pressure of 0.1 MPa. The diffusion mechanism of Na atoms is investigated in terms of Voronoi polyhedron around network former and displacement of Na atoms between them. The simulation shows that Na atoms are not uniformly distributed through polyhedrons, but they mainly gather in nonbridging oxygen (NBO) and free oxygen (FO) polyhedrons. More than 75.22% of total Na atoms are place in NBO polyhedrons, although the number of NBO polyhedrons is only 22.27%. The two motion types give mainly contribution to Na diffusion: hopping of isolated Na atom or collective displacement. During 150 ps, the system comprises two separate regions: Na-poor regions formed by Si-O subnets and Na-rich regions formed by O2 clusters. The two regions have strongly different chemical composition, the density of Na atoms as well as motion type of Na atoms.