Structural, chemical and mechanical properties of phosphate glass fibers

Abstract

Phosphate glasses with the compositions of (53-x)P2O5-11K2O-25CaO-11MgO-X; (X: ZnO, CoO, Fe2O3) were prepared and subsequently transformed into fibers by a monofilament extruder. The compositions and amorphous nature of the glasses were confirmed by XRD, Raman and infrared spectroscopies. The SEM shows that the elaborated fibers at a spinning speed of 500 m/min have a diameter of 17 μm. The degradation study in aqueous solution at 37 °C showed a decrease of 99% in degradation rate with the addition of ZnO, CoO and Fe2O3 elements. This confirmed that the chemical durability of the glasses had increased. DSC showed an increase in Tg values by addition ZnO, CoO and Fe2O3 contents. The tensile properties show that the phosphate glass fibers have good mechanical properties, the highest tensile strength obtained is 1321 ± 50 MPa. The density measured revealed an increase from 2.54 to 2.7 g.cm−3.