Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
There is renewed appreciation for understanding glass corrosion mechanisms due in large part to the urgency of nuclear waste management. Although the ultimate goal - to predict specific corrosion performance - has not yet been reached, theories continue to be fine tuned so that this objective now appears attainable.
However, even at our present level of understanding, chemical durability theory is a vital tool in reading the secrets of the past as contained in both ancient and natural glasses, designing products such as optical waveguides for a new technological age and predicting how those products, such as nuclear waste glass, will perform - far into the future.