Chalcogenide glasses from the GeSe2-Sb2Se3-PbSe system were synthesized for the first time. The glass-forming region was determinated by the help of visual, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopic analyses. The basic physico-chemical parameters such as density (d), microhardness (HV) and the temperatures of phase transformations (the glass transition T-g, crystallization T-cr and melting T-m) were measured. Compactness and some thermomechanical characteristics such as volume (V-h) and formation energy (E-h) of micro-voids in the glassy network, as well as the module of elasticity E were calculated. The overall mean bond energy (E), the mean coordination number (Z), the mean bond energy of the average cross-linking/atom and the average bond energy per atom of the "remaining matrix", (E) over bar (c) and (E) over bar (rm), as well as the average heteropolar bond energy E-hb, the degree of "cross-linking/atom" P-p and the molar volume V-m were determinated. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.