Optical, structural and thermal properties of sodium metaphosphate glasses containing Bi2O3 with interactions of gamma rays

• Undoped and Bi2O3 doped sodium metaphosphate glasses were prepared.
• Combined FTIR, optical and thermal behaviors were measured.
• Induced defects generated by irradiation were identified.
• The prepared glasses can be considered as radiation shielding material.
• Thermal analysis showed the usefulness of glass as solder material.

Sodium metaphosphate glasses with successive increasing added Bi2O3 contents (5–40%) were prepared to improve their chemical stability and increase their optical and thermal properties through the additional building BiO6 and BiO3 units. The optical spectrum of the base metaphosphate glass reveals strong UV absorption due to the presence of trace iron (Fe3 +) ions present as impurities. Glasses containing additional 5, 7.5 and 10% Bi2O3 show further band around 406 nm which can be related to absorption of Bi3 + ions. With increasing the Bi2O3 content, this near visible band is observed to disappear indicating peculiar behavior needing further work. Gamma irradiation causes only minor changes in the position of the strong UV peaks but an obvious induced visible broad band centered at 452–460 nm in the base and Bi2O3 containing glasses. This induced band is related to the generation of phosphorus oxygen hole center or non bridging oxygen hole center as revealed by various authors. FTIR results reveal characteristic vibrational bands due to phosphate groups and with the addition of Bi2O3, some interference of BiO vibrational units are expected. Gamma irradiation causes limited changes in the IR spectra due to suggested shielding effect of the heavy metal oxide Bi2O3.

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