Study on the trapped mercury in porous glasses by neutron scattering in conjuction by mercury porosimetry

Complete text of publication follows. A series of Controlled Porous Glasses (CPGs) with pore sizes from 17 to 300 nm has been examined by scattering of neutrons at low and very low scattering angles as well as by mercury porosimetry. Porous glasses partially loaded with mercury were also examined by neutron scattering. At low and very low scattering angles the CPG's spectra show a peak in a range of Q values, depending on the particle size to average pore size ratio, whereas at high scattering angles the scattered intensity decays following a non-integer power law [1]. The peak is related to the structure of the porous glass and the non-integer exponent suggests that the internal surfaces are fractally rough. Hg porosimetry shows that after extrusion an amount of mercury is trapped in the glass matrix. The mercury entrapment is studied in conjuction with very small angle neutron scattering. In the very-low-Q region a fractal-like power-low in the range of 1.7-2.0 is observed, indicating that the percolation network forms a fractal-like geometry [2]. (author)