Te-As-Se glass destabilization using high energy milling

The Te20As30Se50 (TAS) glass has been studied under the extreme conditions of high energy milling. Starting from the raw materials, an amorphization process occurs progressively reaching an unstable intermediate state and the final stable state then. Despite its high resistance against crystallization when made using silica tubes, an intermediate state is reached when mechanically alloyed into powder. The evolution of the glass structure has been investigated using Raman spectroscopy and MAS NMR of 77Se according to the milling time. Optimized parameters and conditions to compact milled powders by Spark Plasma Sintering show the possibility to design infrared windows transparent from 2 to 20 μm. A correlation to the thermo-mechanical properties of densified powder using hot pressing has been made.