Compositional dependence of thermal, optical and mechanical properties of oxyfluoride glass

Tungsten oxyfluoride glasses are characterized by low phonon energy. This is due to the presence of fluoride ions that have low phonon energy and formation of low phonon energy WO6 units. Oxyfluoride glasses based on WO3–BaF2–RF, where RF = LiF, NaF or mixed (LiF–NaF) have been prepared by melt quenching technique. The density and molar volume of the prepared glasses show a decrease with the increase of RF instead of WO3 content. The glass transition temperature Tg is found to decrease with increasing RF content. The refractive index increases with the addition of heavy polarizable fluorides. The decrease of the elastic moduli and microhardness of these glasses may be due to the decrease in density and the depolymrization effect. The Poisson's ratio increases with increasing RF content due to the structural changes and formation of (NBOs) and (NBF) units. The aim of this work is to prepare a glass host with low phonon energy to be an efficient host with good luminescence properties, when doped with rare earth ions, and to study its structural, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. (paper)