Effects of Nb2O5 Replacement by Er2O3 on elastic and structural properties of 75TeO2-(10-x)Nb2O5-15ZnO-(x)Er2O3 glass

Tellurite 75TeO(2)-(10-x)Nb2O5-15ZnO-(x)Er2O3; (x = 0.0-2.5 mol%) glass system with concurrent reduction of Nb2O5 and Er2O3 addition have been prepared by melt-quenching method. Elastic properties together with structural properties of the glasses were investigated by measuring both longitudinal and shear velocities using the pulse-echo-overlap technique at 5 MHz and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. Shear velocity, shear modulus, Young's modulus and Debye temperature were observed to initially decrease at x = 0.5 mol% but remained constant between x = 1.0 mol% to x = 2.0 mol%, before increasing back with Er2O3 addition at x = 2.5 mol%. The initial drop in shear velocity and related elastic moduli observed at x = 0.5 mol% were suggested to be due to weakening of glass network rigidity as a result of increase in non-bridging oxygen (NBO) ions as a consequence of Nb2O5 reduction. The near constant values of shear velocity, elastic moduli, Debye temperature, hardness and Poisson's ratio between x = 0.5 mol% to x = 2.0 mol% were suggested to be due to competition between bridging oxygen (BO) and NBO ions in the glass network as Er2O3 gradually compensated for Nb2O5. Further addition of Er2O3 (x>2.0 mol%) seems to further reduce NBO leading to improved rigidity of the glass network causing a large increase of ultrasonic velocity (V-L and V-S) and related elastic moduli at x = 2.5 mol%. FTIR analysis on NbO6 octahedral, TeO4 trigonal bipyramid (tbp) and TeO3 trigonal pyramid (tp) absorption peaks confirmed the initial formation of NBO ions at x = 0.5 mol% followed by NBO/BO competition at x = 0.5-2.0 mol%. Appearance of ZnO4 tetrahedra and increase in intensity of TeO4 tbp absorption peaks at x = 2.0 mol% and x = 2.5 mol% indicate increase in formation of BO. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.