Ultrasonic studies on ternary TeO2-V2O5-Sm2O3 glasses

Longitudinal and shear wave velocities were measured in different compositions of the ternary glass system; 65TeO(2)-(35 - x)V2O5-xSm(2)O(3) at room temperature and at 4 MHz frequency using pulse echo technique. The densities of the glasses were measured by the displacement method using toluene as immersion liquid. The elastic moduli, Debye temperature, softening temperature, and micro-hardness were then calculated and have been used to obtain quantitative details about the structure of these glasses. The effect of adding Sm2O3, on the expense of V2O5, was investigated in terms of the number of network bonds of the glass. The average atomic ring size of the network was also calculated and it was found that it depends on the concentration of the modifier. The results obtained showed that these glasses become more stable and compact when modified with the rare earth oxide Sm2O3. This in turn increases the number of network bonds per unit volume and decrease the average atomic ring size of the network and consequently increases the elastic properties of these glasses. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.