The structure of fluorozirconate glasses modified with nitrogen

Fluorozirconate glasses modified with nitrogen were melted. For basic fluorozirconate glasses of the composition 58 ZrF4, 36 BaF2, 6 LaF3,10 AlF3 the aluminium fluoride was replaced by aluminium nitride. The Raman and FT-IR spectra were registered for the studied glasses. Addition of N atoms into the fluorozirconate glass network caused a shift of the bands attributed to vibrations of Zr — Fbridging and Zr — Fnonbridging groups towards a higher wavenumber. This procedure might cause introduction of the nitrogen atoms into the bridging and nonbridging positions of the fluorine atoms. The nitrogen ions are introduced into the fluorozirconate glasses to improve their mechanical and thermal properties as well as chemical resistance.