The Processing Procedures and Techniques for K9 Optical Glass Parts
K9 glass is a kind of glass made of K9 material, mainly used in optical coating and other fields. K9 glass is an optical glass due to its exceptional clarity. Consequently, numerous manufacturers have adopted K9 material as a raw material, and their processed products are called crystal glass products.
The composition of K9 glass is as follows: SiO2=69.13%, B2O3=10.75%, BaO=3.07%, Na2O=10.40%, K2O=6.29%, As2O3=0.36%. Optical constant of K9 glass: refractive index=1.51630, dispersion=0.00806, abbe number=64.06.
Processing technique of K9 optical glass
Material selection—cutting—leveling—rubber strip—rolling—forming spherical surface—coarse grinding—putting on—fine grinding—polishing—putting down; putting second side on—fine grinding—polishing—putting down—centering and edging—coating
General processing procedures of optical glass
- Manufacturingmelting furnaces
There are two kinds of melting furnaces: clay furnaces and platinum furnaces. In recent years, optical glasses doping rare elements have used small platinum furnaces to maintain stable quality.
- Putting into raw materialsof optical glass:
Following an extended period of drying, melting furnaces, especially clay furnaces, are ready for melting after the addition of raw materials that are selected according to specific formulas.
- Heating, melting, and stirring:
Heating conditions will vary depending on the material. However, the different materials must be stirred evenly to achieve uniformity.
- Cooling:
The material should be subjected to a prolonged cooling process at a slow pace. However, the duration of this process is dependent upon the specific material, which is of the utmost importance to ensure optimal quality.
- Splittingthe furnace and sorting:
Split the clay furnace, take out the block-shaped materials and sort them.
- Evaluation, testing and typing:
Evaluate and test the performance of each item to guarantee the quality of the product.
- Cutting and chamfering (trimming) :
The block-shaped materials are cut into smaller pieces and chamfered in accordance with the intended applications.
- Moulding:
Once the materials have been softened through heating, they will be moulded in accordance with the specifications in the engineering drawings. However, it is necessary to manufacture or prepare various molds, tools and auxiliary materials in advance.
- Passivation:
The annealing and passivation of materials serves to eliminate internal stress.
- Testingand inspection:
Test the optical properties and appearance of the product that will become the raw materials of the downstream industry (optical component manufacturers). Following processing and grinding, the product will become an optical component.
The gas generated from the raw materials during melting will remain in the glass, forming a foam-like structure, which is called bubbles. The process of stirring will also result in the formation of streaks within the glass, which are referred to as veins.
