With many desirable properties like a low expansion co-efficient, chemical resistance and high temperature resistance, quartz glass is a very popular material used in various spectrometry and light experiments. The properties of this material make it highly suitable for procedures carried out in the Ultraviolet to Infrared range of the light spectrum.
Properties of quartz and how it is obtained
Quartz occurs naturally and is seen in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Clear quartz crystals have immense use in laboratories in optical and non-optical procedures and experiments. Quartz is very hard and durable. It is also chemically inert, and thus suitable for laboratory use. Some quartz crystals also exhibit piezoelectric properties that make it useful in electrical experiments. The material amplifies energy and is used to make lenses, prisms and other optical instruments. This necessitates its cutting and shaping into specific shapes and forms to suit the specific needs of a lab experiment.
Obtaining quartz for such experiments involves a very fine and detailed procedure. The raw material has to be carefully ground into complex shapes through a range of high precision procedures like grinding and other thermal treatments.
Innovative cold casing method for obtaining complex quartz shapes
Creating quartz glass parts in the required shape and size is now possible with an innovative and highly efficient technique using cold moulds. The process involves cold casting, where the liquid form of the material is slowly poured into a mould. It is then left to set.
When the liquid sets, it will be porous and opaque due to the gas that gets trapped in its form. These gases are usually the product of the cast preform process. These have to be removed to achieve the clear and transparent structure that is required for experiments. For this purpose, the quartz part is subjected to thermal treatment. While heat processing is performed, the surface becomes clear and it releases all the gas bubbles trapped during the previous stage. The Hellma quartz glass thus achieves the form that is suitable for lab procedures.
The benefit of this method is that the entire process is relatively easy and not complicated due to the use of a mould for creating the product. Complex shapes that are otherwise difficult to create from scratch can be easily produced with this process. These are then used for various optical and non-optical applications in labs.
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