Résumé
Nuclear glasses containing radionuclides are submitted to their self-irradiation, which has an impact on the glass structure, properties and long-term behavior. Alteration experiments conducted on radioactive glass are cumbersome to carry out, as they have to take place in hot environments (glove boxes or shielded cells). Complex sequences of external irradiations were therefore used on inactive surrogate glasses, to simulate the electronic and nuclear interactions induced by self-irradiation. Nuclear interactions were generated by a 7 MeV Au3+ ions beam and the electronic interactions were induced by two particles with different stopping powers: 2.5 MeV electrons and/or 1.7 MeV He+ ions. In addition, complex sequential irradiation scenarios were carried out to study nuclear-electronic coupling. The irradiated glasses were then characterized by several techniques to assess changes in composition, structure, hardness and density.The effects of Au irradiation were much higher than that of He, and electron irradiation had very little impact on pristine glass. However, a recovery effect was observed when electronic irradiation was performed on samples previously damaged by nuclear interactions.