Comparative Study of Y2O3, ZnO, and CeO2 Additions to Magnesium Aluminosilicate Glasses: Composition–Structure–Property Relationships

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The development of high-modulus glasses is essential for advanced lightweight applications, requiring a fundamental understanding of how different oxide components dictate elastic performance. To maximize stiffness, oxides must be strategically introduced to enhance both network connectivity and volumetric packing density; hence, Y2O3, ZnO, and CeO₂ are investigated here due to their high single-bond dissociation energies and strong cationic field strengths. Magnesium aluminosilicate glasses (MAS) modified with Y2O3, ZnO, and CeO2 were systematically investigated to establish composition–structure–property relationships. A constrained ternary mixture design (Y2O3–ZnO–CeO2 = 14 wt.%) was used to span the compositional space efficiently. The measured Young’s modulus ranged from 97.5 to 113.8 GPa, while the specific modulus varied between 36.6 and 41.7 ×10⁶ N·m/kg. The highest values were obtained for compositions adding Y2O3 alone or Y₂O₃–ZnO. Raman spectroscopy revealed systematic changes in the Si–O stretching band, including shifts in band position and variations in band width depending on composition. These changes indicate structural reorganization of the glass network. A correlation between Raman peak position and the specific modulus (R² = 0.24, ρ = 0.033, n = 19) indicates that structural connectivity effects contribute to stiffness, whereas the corresponding correlation with Young's modulus does not reach significance at α = 0.05 (R² = 0.19, p = 0.064). Additional factors such as packing density and cation field strength are therefore also relevant. The results show that Y2O3 is the most effective oxide for increasing stiffness, ZnO exhibits composition-dependent behaviour, and CeO2 reduces the specific modulus. The combined analysis provides an experimental and structural basis to designing high-modulus glass systems.

This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit: