This fused quartz sphere was manufactured for use in a gyroscope in the Gravity Probe B experiment. It is one of the most accurate spheres ever manufactured, deviating from a perfect sphere by no more than 40 atoms of thickness.[1]
Fused quartz, fused silica or quartz glass is a glass consisting of almost pure silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) in amorphous (non-crystalline) form. This differs from all other commercial glasses, such as soda-lime glass, lead glass, or borosilicate glass, in which other ingredients are added which change the glasses' optical and physical properties, such as lowering the melt temperature, the spectral transmission range, or the mechanical strength. Fused quartz, therefore, has high working and melting temperatures, making it difficult to form and less desirable for most common applications, but is much stronger, more chemically resistant, and exhibits lower thermal expansion, making it more suitable for many specialized uses such as lighting and scientific applications.
The terms fused quartz and fused silica are used interchangeably but can refer to different manufacturing techniques, resulting in different trace impurities. However fused quartz, being in the glassy state, has quite different physical properties compared to crystalline quartz despite being made of the same substance.[2] Due to its physical properties it finds specialty uses in semiconductor fabrication and laboratory equipment, for instance.
Compared to other common glasses, the optical transmission of pure silica extends well into the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, so is used to make lenses and other optics for these wavelengths. Depending on manufacturing processes, impurities will restrict the optical transmission, resulting in commercial grades of fused quartz optimized for use in the infrared, or in the ultraviolet. The low coefficient of thermal expansion of fused quartz makes it a useful material for precision mirror substrates or optical flats.[3]
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Hardwood, W. (20 April 2004). "Spacecraft launched to test Albert Einstein's theories". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
^"Quartz vs. Fused Silica: What's the Difference?". Swift Glass. 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
^De Jong, Bernard H. W. S.; Beerkens, Ruud G. C.; Van Nijnatten, Peter A. (2000). "Glass". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a12_365. ISBN 3-527-30673-0.
Fusedquartz, fused silica or quartz glass is a glass consisting of almost pure silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) in amorphous (non-crystalline) form. This...
and made of a clear, transparent material such as plastic, glass, or fusedquartz. Cuvettes are designed to hold samples for spectroscopic measurement...
and other instruments, first invar, a nickel steel alloy, and later fusedquartz, which made temperature compensation trivial. Precision pendulums were...
common.[citation needed] Quartz has a further advantage in that its size does not change much as temperature fluctuates. Fusedquartz is often used for laboratory...
Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is a common fundamental constituent of glass. Fusedquartz is a glass made from chemically pure silica. It has very low thermal...
expansion of soda–lime glass); however, the difficulty of working with fusedquartz makes quartzware much more expensive, and borosilicate glass is a low-cost...
under the Assyrian Empire: they were made of polished crystals, usually quartz, rather than glass. It wasn't until the rise of the Greeks and Romans that...
produced by vaporizing quartz sand in a 3000 °C electric arc. Both processes result in microscopic droplets of amorphous silica fused into branched, chainlike...
the strain caused by applied pressure. Force balancing: Force-balanced fusedquartz Bourdon tubes use a spiral Bourdon tube to exert force on a pivoting...
high tensile strength). Pure silica (silicon dioxide), when cooled as fusedquartz into a glass with no true melting point, can be used as a glass fiber...
lamps (which are usually considered separately). Each consists of a fusedquartz or other heat resistant glass arc tube, with a tungsten metal electrode...
forces generated by electrodes which are deposited directly onto separate fused-quartz structures that surround the shell. Gyroscopic effect is obtained from...
2012-06-29. Bucaro, J. A. (1974). "High-temperature Brillouin scattering in fusedquartz". Journal of Applied Physics. 45 (12): 5324–5329. Bibcode:1974JAP......
forces generated by electrodes which are deposited directly onto separate fused-quartz structures that surround the shell. The gyroscopic effect is obtained...
germanium dioxide as the core dopant. In 1981, General Electric produced fusedquartz ingots that could be drawn into strands 25 miles (40 km) long. Initially...
is greater than 335 nm. Fusedquartz, depending on quality, can be transparent even to vacuum UV wavelengths. Crystalline quartz and some crystals such...
mercury-vapor lamp). EPROMs are easily recognizable by the transparent fusedquartz (or on later models resin) window on the top of the package, through...
second, and having a transmission loss of 1 decibel per kilometer. FusedquartzQuartz fiber dosimeter Carley, James F. (October 8, 1993). Whittington's...
Amber 589.29 1.55 Sodium chloride 589.29 1.544 Fused silica (a pure form of glass, also called fusedquartz) 589.29 1.458 Other materials Liquid helium 1...
store data optically in non-photosensitive transparent materials such as fusedquartz, which has high chemical stability. Recording data using a femtosecond-laser...
high tensile strength). Pure silica (silicon dioxide), when cooled as fusedquartz into a glass with no true melting point, can be used as a glass fiber...
This thermal expansion performance is comparatively superior to that of fusedquartz by two orders of magnitude. High 3D homogeneity with few inclusions,...
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