Glass-forming ability and the structure of glasses in the BaO-WO3-P2O5 system

•Glass-forming region in the system BaO-WO3-P2O5 was determined.•High ionicity limits glass formation in BaO rich glasses.•Glass structure and properties were studied in five compositional series.•Possible coordination change of tungsten from WO6 to WO4 revealed by Raman spectra.•Clustering of tungstate octahedra depends on the BaO/P2O5 ratio.