Chemical and nanomechanical degradation behavior of a commercial pharmaceutical glass in sodium citrate solution

Abstract The impact of corrosion on pharmaceutical glasses has received significant attention in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, the evolution of chemical structure and nanomechanical properties of a commercial pharmaceutical borosilicate glass with a medium boron content was investigated upon static corrosion in sodium citrate solution, which has been widely used as stabilizers in modern pharmaceutical products. Experimental results reveal that the dissolution of glass network dominates the corrosion of the pharmaceutical glass during the initial corrosion, and nanomechanical properties of the pharmaceutical glass surface decrease firstly and then increase. As the corrosion time further extends, the ion‐exchange and Na ion in‐diffusion as well as the precipitation formation dominate the corrosion behavior, accompanied by a significant decrease in nanomechanical properties of glass surface. These findings and previously published works suggest that the nanomechanical properties of corroded pharmaceutical glass surfaces need more attention and it can reveal more information about the corrosion behavior of glass surface.