Topography of barium-vanadate glasses

The topography of barium-vanadate glasses was measured. Samples of the composition of xBaO-(100-x)V2O5 where x= 30, 40 and 45 (in %mol) were prepared by the conventional melt quenching technique. Appropriate amounts of reagents: BaO (≥99.9%, P.P.H STANLAB Sp.J.) and V2O5 (≥99.9%, POCH) were thoroughly mixed in an agate mortar. The melting was performed in porcelain crucibles at 1273 K for 10–30 min, depending on glass composition. The melts were poured on preheated (to 393 K) brass plate and pressed by another plate to obtain flat circular pellets of 1-2 mm thickness and 10-20 mm in diameter.An Olympus LEXT OLS4000 confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM, Olympus Life Science, Hambur, Germany ) was used to examine the morphology of as-quenched samples. 3D color images were obtained using a 405 nm laser and photomultiplier detector with the maximum obtained optical magnification of 2160x.