Structure and properties of zinc bismuth phosphate glass

Abstract

In the present work, ZnO–Bi 2O 3–P 2O 5 glasses were studied to examine the effect of the Bi 2O 3 composition on the structure and properties of the phosphate glass system. Glasses with the compositions, I: (50 − 2 x)ZnO– xBi 2O 3 − (50 + x)P 2O 5 and II: (50 − x)ZnO– xBi 2O 3–50P 2O 5( x = 0 − 20 mol%) were prepared. To investigate the relation between the structural change and compositional change, the structure was measured by FT-IR analysis and the density, glass transition temperature ( T g ) and chemical properties of the glasses were measured. The T g and chemical properties (water-resistant qualities) increased with increasing metaphosphate phase in the glasses, due to the increase in the number of bridging oxygens. The glass properties were dependent on the O/P ratio. The compositional variations that changed the dominant phosphate structure from a metaphosphate to a pyrophosphate were accompanied by the transformation in the dominant Bi coordination, complicating the effect that Bi 2O 3 has on the glass properties. Bi 3+ cations were incorporated into the glass network and difference in the Bi–O bonding state in the glasses.