PHYSICAL AND STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF Nd2O3 DOPED BORATE GLASS

Abstract

The Nd³⁺ doped borate glass system with composition xNd₂O₃-5MgO-20ZnO-(75-x) B2O3 with x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 successfully been prepared by melt-quenched technique. The physical properties by mean of density and molar volume are well determined. From the results, the glass densities are found to increase from 3193 kgm^-3 to 3530 kgm^-3. The increment in density implies that an addition of Nd₂O₃ with higher atomic masses than B₂O₃ tend to increase the packing density of the glass structures since the atomic masses of B₂O₃ and Nd₂O₃ are 69.62 and 336.42 respectively. From the density values obtained, the molar volume of glasses was calculated. It is found that the molar volume of these glasses decreases slightly from 22.50 cm³ to 22.24 cm³ with respect to Nd₂O₃ content. Meanwhile, the structural properties have been determined by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques. From the experiment, it is observed that there are several significant peaks which correspond to the structural bonding of the glass in a range of 650 – 4000 cm^-1. The peaks found are consistent with the stretching and bending vibration of the glass structure as predicted.