Preparation and characterization of strontium-doped bismuth borate glasses

Employing the melt quenching method, new bismuth borate glass compositions denoted as (40+x)Bi2O3–(60-x-y)B2O3–ySrO, with x and y ranging between 0 to 20 mol%, were synthesized. The X-ray Diffraction analyses confirmed the amorphous nature of all glass samples, indicating the absence of long-range order typically seen in crystalline materials. Concurrently, the Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy examinations unveiled the existence of fundamental structural units within the glasses, including BO3 and BO4 trigonal and tetrahedral units, as well as BiO3 and BiO6 polyhedra, suggesting a complex network structure. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and dilatometry assessed the glasses' thermal properties. DTA demonstrated the glasses' high thermal stability, with a stability value of up to 106°C, noting that stability improves with more SrO. Dilatometry analyses revealed these glasses exhibit a high thermal expansion coefficient, ranging from 8.69 to 10.7 ppm/°C, alongside relatively low glass transition temperatures between 362 and 432°C and dilatometric softening temperatures spanning from 380 to 447°C. Density measurements were conducted, followed by molar volume and oxygen packing density calculations, to glean further insights into the samples. Compared to other heavy-metal oxide glasses, the glasses examined in this study exhibited notably high-density values, ranging between 6.279 and 7.476 g/cm3 .