Estimator Algorithms for Determining the Elastic Properties of Chalcogenide Glasses Based on Elemental Composition

Abstract

Accurate prediction of the elastic properties of chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) remains a long-standing challenge due to the structural complexity of amorphous networks and the limited availability of reliable mechanical measurements. In this work, we develop a set of numerical estimator algorithms capable of predicting Poisson's ratio, Young's modulus, the Bulk modulus, and the Shear modulus of a ChG solely from its elemental composition. Building on our earlier density-estimator framework, we introduce two composition-based weighting schemes—XC weighting for Poisson's ratio and XMC weighting for the elastic moduli—that incorporate atomic fraction, atomic weight, and coordination number. Element-specific high- and low-concentration endpoint values are found using a reverse Monte Carlo analysis approach and interpolated using a Sigmoid functional form. The resulting estimators were applied to 171 glass compositions spanning 16 ChG families with previously reported elastic properties. Across this dataset, the estimators achieved standard deviations of approximately 2% for Poisson's ratio and less than 5.7% for the elastic moduli. These results show that the elastic properties of ChGs can be predicted with practical accuracy using only elemental composition, enabling pre-melt screening of candidate materials and reducing experimental cost and effort.

Received: 9 December 2025 | Revised: 25 February 2026 | Accepted: 9 April 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable—the authors generated no new data. All elastic properties data used by the authors to develop their models, equations, and example calculations were extracted from the sources provided below [DA01-DA08] and in references [24–40]. In this regard, all data have been measured over the course of the last 20 years. In some cases, peer-reviewed journal articles for a specific glass family and/or composition's elastic properties data were not available. For reputable data sources, the authors relied on the scientific expertise of the major infrared optical chalcogenide glass manufacturing companies: Schott North America, Inc., Amorphous Materials, Inc., Vitron Spezialwerkstoffe, GmbH, and Wavelength Opto-Electronics, Singapore (using their published datasheets).

DA01. Comparison of IR transmitting glasses produced by AMI (Version5). https://www.amorphousmaterials.com/app/download/6541860504/
Comparison+of+IR+Materials+ver+5.pdf

DA02. Schott. (2025). IRG25 datasheet. https://www.schott.com/en-us/products/infrared-glasses-and-materials/downloads

DA03. Schott. (2025). IRG22 datasheet. https://www.schott.com/en-us/products/infrared-glasses-and-materials/downloads

DA04. Schott. (2025). IRG27 datasheet. https://www.schott.com/en-us/products/infrared-glasses-and-materials/downloads

DA05. Vitron. (2025). IG-2 datasheet. https://www.vitron.de/upload/vitron-ig-2-datenblatt-okt-2020-1_901.pdf

DA06. Vitron. (2025). IG-3 datasheet. https://www.vitron.de/upload/vitron-ig-4-datenblatt-okt-2020-1_299.pdf

DA07. Hilton, A. R., Hayes, D. J., & Rechtin, M. D. (1974). Chalcogenide glasses for high energy laser application (Report No. TI-08-74-44). Texas Instruments. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/html/tr/ AD0782036/index.html

DA08. Wavelength opto-electronic datasheets. https://wavelength-oe.com/wp-content/uploads/Chalcogenide-Materials.pdf

Author Contribution Statement

Richard A. Loretz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. Thomas J. Loretz: Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration.