Excellent Mechanical Properties of the Silicate Glasses Modified by CeO2 and TiO2: A New Choice for High-Strength and High-Modulus Glass Fibers

As is well known, silicate glass has a stable glass-forming region and mature drawing processes into fibers. In this study, to obtain enhanced mechanical properties, glasses with a composition of SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -MgO-CaO-B 2 O 3 -Fe 2 O 3 were synthesized using TiO 2 and CeO 2 . When the amount of TiO 2 and CeO 2 is less than 2 wt%, the mechanical properties increase with increases in the TiO 2 and CeO 2 . However, as the amount of TiO 2 and CeO 2 increases from 2 to 3.5 wt%, the mechanical properties decrease. Co-doping with 1 wt% TiO 2 and 1 wt% CeO 2 was found to be the optimum approach, with a density, bending strength, compression strength, and compression modulus of 2.626 g/cm 3 , 108.36 MPa, 240.18 MPa, and 115.03 GPa, respectively. The optical band gap and Raman spectroscopy proved that, as long as the content of oxygen bonds reaches the maximum level, a kind of best structural stability and mechanical properties will be achieved. Hence, this type of high-strength silicate glass can be used in optical fibers for military defense, wind power generation, and transportation.