[SillyAboutSilicate]

I'm interested in examining the physical properties of sodium silicate.. particularly how it turns to solid, and what its properties are as a solid.

Wikipedia states: A well known member of this series is sodium metasilicate, Na2SiO3. Also known as waterglass

Having begun the task of sourcing samples, I have found:

Na2Si3O7 - stated as having good solidifying properties and called Sodium Silicate 75°Tw
Na2O nSiO2 - stated as having good solidifying properties
Na4O4Si - no properties stated

All claim to be called 'waterglass'

Can we discern the different properties, simply by looking at the data presented?
eg. hardness, expansion, brittleness

They all claim to be the same thing, yet clearly they are not (even the wiki formula is different).

I'm an engineer, not a chemist.. so I would be really interested to hear the thoughts of chemists, on this question.
Hopefully you'll find this as interesting as I do 

[Hunter2]

Waterglass is a mixture of all these mentioned Silicates dissolved in water .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate

So its difficult to get behaviors of an single substance.

[SillyAboutSilicate]

I guess then I'm just gonna have to get my hands on some samples.
But yes.... perhaps once solidified, each formula has the same properties.

[marty63]

You might find this site interesting as it deals with making concrete via the geopolymerisation process.

http://www.geopolymer.org

One ingredient often used is water glass - Sodium based or potassium based (and less often Lithium based). If mixed with pozzolanic material containing a certain species of Aluminium with the coordination 4 (usually Kaolin clays heated to 750 degreesC for a few hours) they harden into an inorganic-polymer. The material has many applications such as low carbon concrete (6 times less Co2 than conventional cement production), fireproof laminate panels for aircraft interiors, artificial stone, and many more.