High-temperature mass spectrometric study and modeling of thermodynamic properties of binary glass-forming systems...

Binary glass-forming systems containing bismuth(III) oxide, especially the Bi2O3-SiO2 system, are of great importance in modern materials science: preparation of thin films, fiber optics, potential solar converters, and radiation shields in nuclear physics. Information on vaporization processes and thermodynamic properties obtained in the present study and the results of modeling of this system will be useful for optimization of the synthesis and applications of Bi2O3-containing materials at high temperatures.

High-temperature Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry was used to study the vaporization processes and to determine the partial pressures of components of the Bi2O3-SiO2 system. Measurements were performed with a MS-1301 mass spectrometer. Vaporization was carried out using two iridium-plated molybdenum effusion cells containing the sample under study and pure bismuth(III) oxide (reference substance). Modeling of the thermodynamic properties and structure of glasses and melts in the Bi2O3-SiO2 and Bi2O3-B2O3 systems was performed using a modified approach based on the generalized lattice theory of associated solutions (GLTAS).

At a temperature of 1000 K, Bi and O2 were found to be the main vapor species over the samples studied. The Bi2O3 activity as a function of composition of the Bi2O3-SiO2 system was obtained from the measured partial pressures of the vapor species. The thermodynamic properties of mixing from oxides in this system were calculated. The advantages of GLTAS for modeling of glasses and melts in the binary systems containing Bi2O3 were demonstrated.

The thermodynamic functions of mixing in glasses and melts of the Bi2O3-SiO2 system determined at 1000 K in the present study, as well as in the Bi2O3-B2O3 system, demonstrated negative deviations from ideality. Modeling of the obtained experimental data using GLTAS allowed a correlation to be found between the thermodynamic properties and the relative number of bonds of various types formed in the glasses and melts of these systems.