Abstract
The thermal properties and the kinetic parameters of TeO2-Li2O-ZnO-Nb2O5-Yb2O3 glass series have been evaluated as a function of increasing Yb2O3 content. The theoretical elastic properties and the quantitative analysis (the link between the elastic features and the changed chemical composition of the glass) have been determined by the use of bond compression and Makishima-Mackenzie models. The thermal analysis Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) test was used for estimating the glass characteristics temperatures, thermal stability, and non-isothermal kinetic parameters at the heating rates (beta) 10, 15, 20 and 25 K/min. The activation energies of the glass transition < Eg > and crystallization < Ec >, as well as the order of the crystallization reaction (n), have been computed by different models with clear consistency and harmony between them. It was found that the characteristics temperatures of transition (Tg), softening (Ts), the onset of the crystallization (Tx) and the crystallization (Tc) increased with increasing the heating rate. Also, the results showed the higher thermal stability values (> 100 K) for the understudied glass which is confirmed by K-SP and ((Tc-Tg)/Tg) parameters values. Calculating of (n) showed that the crystallization started with surface nucleation and finished with bulk volume nucleation with rising Yb2O3 (mol %). The computed elastic moduli were linked with the interpretation of the thermal parameters to give a comprehensive image of the studied glass system.