Optical Properties and Structure of Borate Barium Zinc Glasses

The borate barium zinc glasses based on xBaO-(90 - x) B2O3-10ZnO (x = 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 mol%) have been prepared using traditional melt quenching technique. Their physical, optical properties and structure were investigated. The density was measured by Archimedes principle. The refractive index was tested using Abbe Refractmeter. The FT-IR technique had been employed to study the role of ZnO and B2O3 on the structure of the glasses. The results showed that the density of these glasses increased while molar volume, boronboron separation and oxygen packing density decreased with increase of BaO content. Refractive index, molar refraction, molar polarizability, optical basicity and interaction parameter all increased when increasing BaO content, which indicates that the increasing of BaO content in the glass system had a positive effect on the properties and structure. When the amount of BaO was further increased, [ZnO4] was formed and ZnO acted as glass network former. [BO4] tetrahedral gradually transforms into [BO3] triangle.