Effect of potassium and silver ion-exchange on the strengthening effect and properties of aluminosilicate glass

In this work, the aluminosilicate glass was subjected to ion-exchange using the KNO3-AgCl mixed molten salt in order to strengthen the glass while imparting antimicrobial properties. The concentration distribution of K+ ions and Ag+ ions of the ion-exchanged glasses was characterized by EDS, the effects of ion-exchange temperature (460-500 °C), ion-exchange time (0.5-3 h) and AgCl concentration (0–2.5 wt%) in the mixed molten salt on the strengthening effect and properties of the glass were investigated. The results showed that Ag+-Na+ ion-exchange, K+-Na+ ion-exchange existed simultaneously, and Ag+-Na+ ion-exchange occurred preferentially. Due to the presence of metallic silver, the appearance of the Ag+ ion-exchanged glass was light yellow and its transmittance showed a decrease. The surface compressive stress trended up and then down with increasing temperature and time because of the stress relaxation effect. The Vickers hardness of ion-exchanged glass increased by 15%, and the densities and chemical stability were also increased. Ions leaching experiments showed that the Ag+ ions release concentration of silver-loaded glass in aqueous environment can reach the bactericidal level. It has been shown that ion-exchange of glass in KNO3-AgCl mixed molten salts allowed the glass to be strengthened and incorporated with antimicrobial active ions, its chemical stability was improved, too.