Structure and properties of zinc bismuth phosphate glass

In the present work, ZnO-Bi(2)O(3)-P(2)O(5) glasses were studied to examine the effect of the Bi(2)O(3) composition on the structure and properties of the phosphate glass system. Glasses with the compositions, I: (50 - 2x) ZnOxBi(2)O(3) - (50 + x)P(2)O(5) and II: (50 - x)ZnO-xBi(2)O(3)-50P(2)O(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(2)O(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. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.