LAUSR

Abstract In this work, we have prepared 22 barium aluminoborate glass compositions and investigated their thermo-optical and structural properties. The non-hygroscopic glass composition ( 71 − x ) B2O3: ( 20 + x ) BaO:9 Al2O3 with x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 (%mol) presented high transparency in the visible to near-infrared region of about 80%. X-ray diffraction patterns have shown no crystalline phase and indicated a structural change feature. As BaO content increases from 20 to 40 mol%, the density increased from 2.82 to 3.696 g/ c m 3 whereas Vickers hardness decrease from H V  = 5.3 to 4.2 GPa. The FTIR curves indicate three main regions concerning B O B, BO4, and BO3 units. Refractive index measured at 546 nm varied from 1.5611 to 1.6371, whereas dn/dT remained almost constant i.e. 1.69 × 10 − 5 ° C − 1 . Thermal Diffusivity obtained by thermal lens technique indicated a decreased from 3.4 to 2.8 cm2 × 10 − 3 /s as BaO is added to the glass compositions. The results indicate that non-bridging oxygen plays an important effect on glass physical properties.