3. Results
3.1. Thermal analysis
DTA studies were performed on as-quenched amorphous glass samples. Fig. 1(a) shows DTA traces of BaPF glasses with different CaF2 contents. All the samples exhibited an endotherm corresponding to their glass transition temperature and two exotherms indicating their crystallization temperatures followed by another endotherm corresponding to the re-melting of glasses. From DTA traces, the values of glass transition temperature, Tg (onset of glass transition region), onset crystallization temperature, Tx (onset of first crystallization peak) and melting temperature, Tm(minimum of endotherm corresponding to the re-melting of glasses) were obtained as shown in Fig. 1(b) and tabulated in Table 1. Both glass transition temperature and onset crystallization temperature of BaPF glasses increased with the increase in CaF2 content. However, the glasses with higher CaF2 content depict lower melting temperature.
The quantity Tx − Tg, which indicates the thermal stability of glasses against crystallization, and Hruby's parameter (Kgl) specifying the glass forming ability given by (Tx − Tg) / (Tm − Tx) were calculated from the obtained thermal parameters and given inTable 1. It can be observed that both Tx − Tg and Hruby's parameter (Kgl) increased with the increase in CaF2 content in the glass batch, suggesting that incorporation of more CaF2 content into the barium phosphate glass network leads to better thermal stability against crystallization and improvement in glass forming ability [7], [11] and [12]. InFig. 1(a), it can be noted that the area of exothermic peak (Tp2), which is proportional to the heat of crystallization decreases sharply above 4 mol% of the CaF2 content. This result further confirms that the addition of CaF2 above 4 mol% into the barium phosphate glass batch results in substantial improvement in thermal stability against crystallization[13].
Fig. 2 shows the X-ray diffraction patterns of BaPF0 and BaPF10 glasses heat treated at 600 °C for 1 h.
Fig. 2.
XRD patterns of BaPF0 and BaPF10 glasses heat treated at 600 °C for 1 h.
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XRD pattern of heat treated BaPF0 glass shows sharp peaks, indicating the presence of Ba(PO3)2 crystalline phase whereas XRD pattern of heat treated BaPF10 glass shows only a broad halo between 2θ angles 20° and 30°. Absence of any crystalline peaks in the XRD pattern of heat treated BaPF10 glass confirms the increase in thermal stability of glasses with higher CaF2 content. Improvement in thermal stability provides larger working range during the operations like fiber drawing [14]. Hence these glasses, which are having thermal stability parameter above 100 °C, can be used for fiber fabrication [2].
3.2. Optical properties
3.2.1. Refractive index
The values of refractive index reported in Table 2 depict that addition of CaF2 to barium phosphate glasses decreases the refractive index of glasses.
Table 2.
Refractive index, optical band gap energy and Urbach energy of BaPF glasses.
Sample code Refractive index (n)
(± 0.001) Eopt
(eV)
(± 0.1) Etail
(eV)
(± 0.05)
BaPF0 1.578 2.92 0.80
BaPF2 1.576 3.04 0.68
BaPF4 1.575 3.29 0.56
BaPF6 1.572 3.32 0.58
BaPF8 1.571 3.35 0.56
BaPF10 1.570 3.39 0.52
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3.2.2. UV–visible absorption spectra and band gap studies
UV–visible absorption spectra of the prepared glasses were obtained and Tauc plot was drawn between (αhν)1/2 and photon energy hν (eV) for BaPF glasses as shown in Fig. 3. The higher values of absorption coefficient α(ν) at absorption edge can be related to optical band gap energy (Eopt) using the power law suggested by Tauc in 1966 [15] and explained by Davis and Mott in 1970 [16] as
equation(1)
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where C is a constant, hν is the photon energy and r is an index, which assumes the values depending on the nature of interband transitions. For amorphous materials in which absorption takes place by indirect optical transitions, index value r is usually chosen to be 2 [17]. The absorption coefficient α(ν) is calculated from absorbance (A) and thickness (d) of the sample using the relation
equation(2)
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where thickness of sample (d) is in cm.
Fig. 3.
(αhν)1/2 as a function of photon energy (hν) for BaPF glasses.
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After plotting the graph using the Eq. (1), the straight line portion of the plot is extrapolated to touch the energy axis at a point where the value of (αhν)1/2 is equal to zero. The energy value at the point, where straight line touches the energy axis gives the optical band gap energy of glass samples.
Exponential dependence of absorption coefficient α(ν) on the incident photon energy (hν) in the region of lower photon energy of the absorption edge is described by the relation given by Urbach in 1953 [18] and is formulated as
equation(3)
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where B is a constant and Etail is the Urbach energy of glasses.
Urbach energy of the prepared samples was obtained by plotting a graph between ln(α) as a funct