Correlation of Optical and Mechanical Properties of Silver Nanoparticles Sensitized Europium Doped Phosphate Glasses

Magnesium-zinc-sulfophosphate glasses with various concentration of Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) compose of 63.5P2O5–20MgO –15ZnSO4–1.5Eu2O3 –yAgNps (y = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7,0.9 and 1.1 g in excess) were prepared via melt-quenching method.  As-Quenched glasses were then characterized to establish the relationship between optical and mechanical characteristics. Densities were found to increase from 3.0720 to 4.3304 g.cm-3 with increase in AgNPs embedding levels, suggesting the network shrinkages and enhanced compactness. The Young’s, shear and bulk modulus of glasses were observed to enhance with the increase in AgNPs contents. The Poisson’s ratio value increased from (0.0978 to 0.1416) while values of both Vickers hardness (from 0.0658 to 0. 0.0682 GPa) as well as  (from 0.8350 to 0.8916) were increased. This necessitate the evaluation of ultrasonic properties and mechanical properties of the synthesized glasses and further analysed by various analytical tools. The studied glass may be useful for the development of hard surface engineering.