FTIR spectroscopic features of γ-ray influence on new cement kiln dust based glasses

A harmful environmental problem such as cement kiln dust (CKD) was considered as a source of CaO and SiO₂, which are useful oxides for the glass industry. So, Na₂O, B₂O₃, Bi₂O₃, PbO and CKD were used to fabricate new borate based glasses. The structure of the prepared glasses was studied by FTIR before and after gamma irradiation at doses up to 120 kGy. Analysis of FTIR before irradiation revealed that CKD split the characteristic broad band of the vibrations of BO₃ structural units into two bands and created two effective ranges of concentrations which were confirmed by N₄ calculations. After gamma irradiation, the intensity of the FTIR bands decreased and the structure of glass was weakened when 0 ≤ CKD ≤ 23.5 mol% as a result of energy transferred by gamma rays. Increasing CKD beyond this limit created bridging oxygens, more covalent bonds and interlinked the structural groups of the glass network which may resist the irradiation effects. The glass containing 32 mol% of CKD showed higher resistance for radiation effects which was attributed to its strong covalent bonds and to [BiO₆] and [PbO₆] structural units. (paper)