The manufacture, optical properties, and mechanical aspects of europium-doped borate glasses

Abstract

An investigation into the optical and mechanical properties of a novel borate glasses with the chemical composition of 70 B₂O₃-10 Li₂O-10ZnO-5Bi₂O₃-5CaO-xEu₂O₃ was conducted. The glassy specimens of Eu³⁺-doped borate were prepared by the melting-quenching technique. An enhanced density from 3.0860 to 3.2176 g cm⁻³ and reduced molar volume from 29.27819 to 29.17447 (cm³ mol⁻¹) are the outcome of increasing the concentration of Eu³⁺ in glasses. Plotting the extinction coefficient, dielectric constant (ε₁, ε₂), and refractive index (n) against wavelength reveals that they all rise as level of Eu³⁺ elements in the glass lattice increases. An increase in Eu³⁺ concentration results in a decrease in both the volume (VELF) and surface (SELF) energy loss functions. Also, all elastic-mechanical moduli (such as Young’s, Bulk, Shear, and Elongation) increase with increasing the quantity of Eu³⁺ ions in the glass lattice. The Young’s modulus (Y, GPa) of the glassy specimens was 34.512, 36.089, 36.504, 36.730 and 37.114 GPa for x equal 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 mol ratio in the glass system, and coded by Eu-0.0, Eu-0.25, Eu-0.5, Eu-0.75 and Eu-1.0, respectively. Growing Eu₂O₃ levels resulted in an increase in Micro-Hardness from 2.050 to 2.146 GPa. Poisson’s ratio values for Eu-0.0, Eu-0.250, Eu-0.5, Eu-0.75 and Eu-1.0 were 0.273, 0.275, 0.277, 0.277 and 0.278, respectively.