Regular Article

Composition dependence of thermo-dynamical and thermo-mechanical properties in SeTeSnGe chalcogenide glasses (ChGs)

¹ Physics Department, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
² Department of Life Sciences, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
³ Department of Sciences, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA

^* e-mail: dr_neeraj_mehta@yahoo.co.in

Received: 9 April 2020
Received in final form: 20 May 2020
Accepted: 2 June 2020
Published online: 14 July 2020

Abstract

In this endeavor, we have synthesized novel quaternary glassy Se_78-xTe₂₀Sn₂Ge_x (0 ≤ x ≤ 6) alloys by the well-known rapid cooling of melt under quenching technique, to study the effect of Germanium on thermodynamic and thermo-mechanical properties. In particular, we employed Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) technique for the investigation of thermodynamic parameters (e.g., specific heat C_p and enthalpy ΔH) in the glass-transition-region (GTR). Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) experiment was run under non-isothermal conditions. The thermo-mechanical parameters i.e., micro-hardness, micro-void volume, the energy of creation of micro-void, elasticity, density, compactness, and molar volume are also calculated. It was observed that there is a large increment in C_p values in the GTR. Further analysis shows that the C_p values above the GTR (i.e., C_p  = C_pe equilibrium specific heat) and below the GTR (i.e., C_p  = C_pg glass specific heat) are vastly composition dependent. The increment in specific heat value after Ge incorporation is explained in terms of molar volume.