Radiation effects in physical aging of binary As–S and As–Se glasses

Abstract

Radiation-induced physical aging effects are studied in binary AsxS100−x and AsxSe100−x (30 ≤ x ≤ 42) glasses by conventional differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method. It is shown that γ-irradiation (Co60 source, ~3 MGy dose) of glassy AsxS100−x caused a measurable increase in glass transition temperature and endothermic peak area in the vicinity of glass transition region, which was associated with acceleration of structural relaxation processes in these materials. In contrast to sulfide glasses, the samples of As–Se family did not exhibit any significant changes in DSC curves after γ-irradiation. The observed difference in radiation-induced physical aging between sulfides and selenides was explained by more effective destruction-polymerization transformations and possible metastable defects formation in S-based glassy network.