Infrared spectroscopy on lead silicate glass

Abstract

The reflectance spectra of some lead silicate glasses of general formula (PbO)x(SiO2)y have been measured in the infrared frequency range from 50 to 4000 cm−1. The dispersion and absorption spectra in the range 50–2000 cm−1 have been calculated from the reflectance data using the Kramers-Kronig relations. The band at ∼ 135 cm−1 is assigned to the stretching vibration of lead-oxygen bonds. The shoulder band of the silicon-oxygen stretching mode at ∼900 cm−1 shows a weak coupling of those bonds to the Pb2+ modifier. The vibration strength of those bands shows that the number of the Pb2+ modifier increases first up approximately to 50 Mol% with the increase of PbO content and then decreases rapidly. It indicates that different PbO content causes different structural forms in lead silicate glasses: The addition of small amounts of PbO to vitreous silica serves to modify the continuous three-dimensional silica network: whereas in those glasses with a high lead content, the influence of the cation, Pb2+, appears to lie between that of network former and network modifier. This result is in agreement with the structural model of Worrel and Henshall.