Research on effect of ZrO2 on thermal stability and structure of Ga/In based fluoride glasses

A systematic investigation on glass formation in the 20GaF(3)-15InF(3)-20CdF(2)-15ZnF(2)-(20-x)PbF2-10SnF(2)-xZrO(2) (xZ-GICZPS) system (x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 in mol.%) was carried out. These glasses were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared (IR) spectra and Raman spectra. The DSC results show that the thermal stability is affected by PbF2 and ZrO2 contents. With increasing ZrO2 content, the thermal stability is improved at first and then reduced, which is proved by thermal stability factors Delta T and S determined by DSC. As a result, the 20GaF(3)-15InF(3)-20CdF(2)-15ZnF(2)-14PbF(2)-10SnF(2)-6ZrO(2) glass shows the largest parameters Delta T and S, processing the most excellent thermal stability. Analyses of IR spectra reveal that glasses have broad transparency range in IR region. According to Raman spectra, the glass network structures are basically composed of mixed [(In, Ga)F-6] and In[O, F](6) units and ZrO2 mainly acts as network modifier in this system.