What are the common optical materials

In people's minds, glass is a fragile and transparent material, and because the shards are sharp and easy to hurt, the safety is not strong. However, with the development of science and technology, people can not only give full play to the natural advantages of glass, but also adjust its performance to make up for its shortcomings. What are the types of common optical glasses and what materials are commonly used to make glass, please see below.

1. What are the common optical glasses

1. Colorless optical glass

It has specific requirements for optical constants, and has the characteristics of high transmittance in the visible region, non-selective absorption and coloring. According to the Abbe number, it is divided into coronal and flint glass, and each type is divided into several kinds according to the refractive index, and is arranged in order according to the refractive index. It is often used as lenses, prisms, and mirrors for telescopes, microscopes, cameras, etc

2. Anti-irradiation optical glass

It has a very large absorption capacity for high-energy irradiation, including high-lead glass and CaO-B2O2 system glass, the former can prevent γ-ray and X-ray irradiation, and the latter can absorb slow neutrons and thermal neutrons, which are mainly used in the nuclear industry, medical fields, etc. as shielding and peeping window materials

3. Radiation-resistant optical glass

Under certain γ-ray and X-ray irradiation, the transmittance of the visible area changes less, and the variety and grade are the same as that of colorless optical glass, which is used to manufacture optical instruments and peep windows under high-energy irradiation

4. Colored optical glass

Second, what are the materials used to make glass

(1) Ordinary glass (Na2SiO3, CaSiO3, SiO2 or Na2O·CaO·6SiO2).

(2) Quartz glass (glass made of pure quartz as the main raw material, the composition is only SiO2).

(3) Tempered glass (same composition as ordinary glass).

(4) Potassium glass (K2O, CaO, SiO2).

(5) Borate glass (SiO2, B2O3).

(6) Tinted glass adds some metal oxides in the manufacturing process of ordinary glass. Cu2O – red; CuO – blue-green; CdO – light color; Co2O3 – blue; Ni2O3 - dark green; MnO2 – blue-violet; Colloidal Au – red; Colloidal Ag – color).

(7) Color-changing glass (high-grade colored glass with oxides of rare earth elements as colorants).

(8) Optical glass (add a small amount of light-sensitive substances, such as AgCl, AgBr, etc., to ordinary borosilicate glass raw materials, and then add a small amount of sensitizers, such as CuO, etc., to make the glass more sensitive to light).

(9) Rainbow glass (made by adding a large amount of fluoride, a small amount of sensitizer and bromide to ordinary glass raw materials).

(10) Protective glass (add appropriate auxiliary materials in the ordinary glass manufacturing process to make it have the function of preventing strong light, strong heat or radiation from penetrating and protecting personal safety.) Such as gray - dichromate, iron oxide absorbs ultraviolet rays and part of visible light; Blue-green - nickel oxide, ferrous oxide absorb infrared and some visible light; Lead glass – lead oxide absorbs X-rays and R-rays; Dark blue – dichromate, ferrous oxide, iron oxide absorbs ultraviolet, infrared, and most visible light; Cadmium oxide and boron oxide are added to absorb the neutron stream.

(11) Glass-ceramic (also known as crystalline glass or glass ceramic, which is made by adding gold, silver, copper and other crystal nuclei to ordinary glass, instead of stainless steel and gemstones, as radome and missile head, etc.).