Structure and properties of zinc bismuth phosphate glass

In the present work, ZnO–Bi2O3–P2O5 glasses were studied to examine the effect of the Bi2O3 composition on the structure and properties of the phosphate glass system. Glasses with the compositions, I: (50 − 2x)ZnO–xBi2O3 − (50 + x)P2O5 and II: (50 − x)ZnO–xBi2O3–50P2O5(x = 0 − 20 mol%) were prepared. To investigate the relation between the structural change and compositional change, the structure was measured by FT-IR analysis and the density, glass transition temperature (Tg) and chemical properties of the glasses were measured. The Tg and chemical properties (water-resistant qualities) increased with increasing metaphosphate phase in the glasses, due to the increase in the number of bridging oxygens. The glass properties were dependent on the O/P ratio. The compositional variations that changed the dominant phosphate structure from a metaphosphate to a pyrophosphate were accompanied by the transformation in the dominant Bi coordination, complicating the effect that Bi2O3 has on the glass properties. Bi3+ cations were incorporated into the glass network and difference in the Bi–O bonding state in the glasses.