FTIR-ATR spectroscopic study and statistical modeling of composition-structure-property of MgO-CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 Glasses with and without Boron

E-Glass fibers with and without boron have been widely used in commercial composite materials as a lightweight strong and durable reinforcement material. Previously, the Raman spectroscopic method has been successfully applied to study quaternary system MgO-CaO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (MACS) without boron and the network structures derived from Raman analysis have been used to model various glass properties relevant for processing, and composite mechanical application. In this study, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared)—ATR (total attenuated reflectance was applied to study a set of new MCAS glasses with and without boron to explore the feasibility in the development of a statistical-based database, composition–structure-property (C-S-P), for new glass design by using ATR method. Should a glass developer not have access to a Raman spectrometer, results from the current study support the use of ATR methodology to develop the C-S-P database. Furthermore, as demonstrated from this study, the use of the ATR method also avoids the complication of IR hydroxyl band interference with the curve deconvolution analysis, which occurs from the use of KBr chemical as a carrier matrix for conducting FTIR measurement in a transmission mode.