So let’s dig in to know what is fused quartz? Fused quartz, fused silica, or quartz glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) glass made of practically pure silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2). This is distinct from all other commercial glasses, which contain additional components that alter the optical and physical qualities of the glass, such as lowering the melt temperature. As a result, fused quartz has high working and melting temperatures, rendering it unsuitable for most conventional uses.
The phrases fused quartz and fused silica are interchangeable, however they might refer to various manufacturing procedures, which result in different trace impurities. But nonetheless, since fused quartz is glassy, it has quite different physical properties than crystalline quartz.
Because of its physical qualities, it is used in specialized applications like as semiconductor production and laboratory equipment. Impurities will restrict optical transmission depending on the production process, resulting in commercial grades of fused quartz designed for use in the infrared or in the UV. Because of its low coefficient of thermal expansion, fused quartz is an excellent material for precision mirror substrates.
Product Quality & Application of Quartz glass
Quartz glass is made by melting high-purity silica sand that contains quartz crystals. Quartz is made up of solely silicon and oxygen, while manufactured quartz glass frequently contains impurities. Aluminium and titanium are two prominent contaminants that impact optical transmission at UV wavelengths. If water is present throughout the manufacturing process, hydroxyl (OH) groups may become entrenched, reducing infrared transmission.
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Fused quartz’s exceptional ability to withstand massive, rapid temperature changes without cracking is due to its extraordinarily low coefficient of thermal expansion.
It is used as an envelope for halogen lamps and high-intensity discharge lamps, which must run at a high envelope temperature to achieve their combination of great brightness and extended life. Certain high-power vacuum tubes featured silica envelopes, which allowed radiation cooling of their incandescent anodes due to their strong transmission at infrared wavelengths.
What are the uses of Fused Silica ?
Fused silica of fused quartz is used as an industrial raw material to construct a variety of refractory shapes such as crucibles, trays, shrouds, and rollers for a variety of high-temperature thermal processes such as steelmaking, investment casting, and glass manufacturing. Refractory forms constructed of fused quartz offer good thermal shock resistance and are chemically inert to most elements and compounds, including practically all acids, regardless of concentration, with the exception of hydrofluoric acid, which is very reactive even at low concentrations. Translucent fused-quartz tubes are often employed to sheathe electric elements in room warmers, industrial furnaces, and other related applications.
Quartz glassware is occasionally used in chemistry laboratories when regular borosilicate glass cannot tolerate high temperatures or when high UV transmission is required.
