New oxysulphide glasses in Sb 2S 3–M mO n and Sb 2S 3–Sb 2O 3–M mO n systems

Abstract

New oxysulphide glasses involving antimony sulphide (Sb 2S 3), antimony oxide (Sb 2O 3) and M m O n (M = Cu +1, Pb +2, Sn +2, Zn +2, Ba +2, In +3, Bi +3 and V +5) have been investigated and characterized. They exhibit physical properties, different from those of classical oxide glasses and chalcogenide glasses. Glass-forming regions have been found in the Sb 2S 3–M m O n binary systems based on antimony sulphide as the main glass former and Sb 2S 3–Sb 2O 3–M m O n ternary systems derived from the Sb 2S 3–Sb 2O 3 binary glass. Most glasses are easy to prepare and quite stable in air. Depending on the composition and the nature of the M cation, glass transition temperature, T g, is between 190 and 290 °C, crystallization temperature, T c, is between 243 and 442 °C and the stability factor T c −T g is between 23 and 170 °C. Optical properties of these glasses have been measured. They generally appear black with no transparency in the visible range. For some thin glass samples, the infrared absorption edge extends up to about 12 μm.