Optical Properties of Soda-Lime-Silica Glasses Doped with Eggshell Powder

The optical properties of soda-lime-silica glasses doped with eggshell powder were investigated using UV-visible and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. Pure soda-lime-silica glass, which is colorless and transparent, turned dark green after the addition of the eggshell powder. When the eggshell powder content was >= 3 wt%, the glass became translucent. The maximum wavelengths in the UV spectra of the soda-lime-silica glasses doped with 0.5, 1, 3, and 5 wt% eggshell powder were observed at 300.20, 277.40, 284.40, and 312.40 nm, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared spectra of the eggshell-doped soda-lime-silica glass samples were very similar to that of the base undoped glass. The bands at approximately 770-820 cm(-1) could be attributed to the Si-O-Si symmetric stretching of the bridging oxygen between the tetrahedra, while the bands at approximately 970 cm(-1) were related to the Si-O-Si antisymmetric stretching of the bridging oxygen within the tetrahedra.