Statistical approach to study of lithium magnesium metaborate glasses

Abstract

Alkali borate glasses and alkaline earth borate glasses are commonly used materials in the field of optoelectronics. Infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy are valuable tools for structural investigation of borate glass networks. The compositional and structural variety of lithium magnesium metaborate glasses is usually determined by traditional instrumental methods. In this study a data set is classified by structural and physicochemical parameters (FTIR, Raman spectra, glass transition temperature-Tg). Characterisation of magnesium containing metaborate glasses by multivariate statistics (hierarchical cluster analysis) to reveal potential relationships (similarity or dissimilarity) between the type of glasses included in the data set using specific structural features available in the literature is conducted. The clustering of the glass objects indicates a good separation of different magnesium containing borate glass compositions. The grouping of variables concerning Tg and structural data for BO3 and BO4 linkage confirms that BO4/BO3 ratios strongly affect Tg. Additionally, patterns of similarity could be detected not only between the glass composition but also between the features (variables) describing the glasses. The proposed approach can be further used as an expert tool for glass properties prediction or fingerprinting (identification of unknown compositions).