Ultrasonic and Structural Studies of Lead Sodium Borate Glasses Doped with ZnO

Glasses with various proportions of of [50B2O3-20Na2O] (30x) PbO- xZnO (x=0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 mol %), have been prepared by the melt quenching technique. Elastic properties, X-ray and FT-IR spectroscopic studies have been employed to study the role of ZnO on the structure of the investigated glass systems. Elastic properties and Debye temperature have been investigated using sound wave velocity measurements at 4MHz at room temperature. The amorphous nature of these samples was verified by XRD and SEM is used to study the morphology of these glass samples. X-ray diffraction studies on all the glass samples were recorded at room temperature. Peak- free X-ray spectra confirmed the amorphous nature of the glasses. FTIR spectra of these glasses revealed that the borate network is affected by the increase in the concentration of ZnO content and the mixed alkali oxides. FTIR studies confirmed the presence of both [BO3] and [BO4] units, indicating that the glass network is made up of these two units placed in different structural groups. The non-linear variation of peak positions of B-O-B bending and stretching of [BO3] and [BO4] units. The structural explanation has been carried out by studying the ultrasonic velocities (longitudinal velocity Ul and Shear velocity Us) and density of these glass samples.