Macroscopic Characteristics of Chalcogenide Glasses13;

A brief introduction on the technological importance of chalcogenide glasses is followed by a13; discussion of the models such as the Random Covalent Network Model, the Chemically Ordered13; Network Model and the Topological models, which are adopted to understand the atomic13; arrangement in network glasses . The merits and drawbacks of these models have been pointed out13; by considering the property-composition dependencies of several chalcogenide glass systems . The13; importance of considering the effects of chemical ordering and also of network topology in13; accounting for the features observed in the property-composition data of several systems has13; been demonstrated, thereby establishing the coexistence of these two effects in chalcogenide13; glasses. This idea has been applied to separate out the contributions from chemical ordering and13; network topology, to a fundamental structure sensitive property, namely, the Mean Atomic13; Volume . Several aspects of the macroscopic characterisation and the effects of metallic additives13; to chalcogenide glasses are also discussed