Composition–property relationships of the La2O3–Al2O3–SiO2 glass system

We report physical properties of density, glass transition temperature, Vickers hardness and refractive index for 15 La–Al–Si–O glasses within the compositional region 10–28 mol% La2O3, 11–30% Al2O3 and 45–78% SiO2. The glass transition temperature varies only slightly between 871 and 883 °C. Both the density (3.25–4.33 g cm−3) and refractive index (1.59–1.70) display similar compositional dependencies and are primarily dictated by the La2O3 content. The hardness (6.4–9.0 GPa) increases with decreasing SiO2 content and to a minor extent also with the amount of La2O3 of the glass. The physical properties, in particular the hardness, are discussed with reference to glass structure. The similarity in the observed properties between the present oxide-based glasses and those of analogous rare-earth (RE) element-containing RE–Si–(Al)–O–N oxynitride glasses is highlighted and discussed in relation to the apparent, but hitherto largely neglected, role of RE-ions to primarily control many enhanced physical properties of oxynitride glasses.