Structure and properties of non-alkali aluminoborosilicate glass containing RE (RE = La, Ce, Nd, Dy, Y, Yb) oxides

Abstract

Network connectivity, physical and chemical properties of non-alkali aluminoborosilicate glasses doped with 1 mol% rare earth (RE) oxides (La2O3, CeO2, Nd2O3, Dy2O3, Y2O3 and Yb2O3) were investigated. The Gaussian fitting results of 29Si MAS NMR showed that the relative concentration of Q4 in the network structure increased and Q3 decreased with RE-doping except the glass doped with Nd2O3. The glass doped with Yb2O3 displayed highest relative concentration of Q4 ~63.4%, indicating a highest degree of network connectivity. It is associated with the highest cation field strength (CFS) of Yb3+ ion among the doping RE ions. The enhancement of network connectivity resulted the improvements of Vicker's hardness, dielectric constants, glass stain point (Tst), HF- and NaOH-resistance. The glass doped with Nd2O3 contained only 43.3% Q4 in the network structure, and the fraction is even smaller than that of glass without RE oxides. The loose structure is probably attributed to the small dielectric constant of glass doped with Nd2O3, which is the only sample with the smaller dielectric constant than the glass without RE-doping.