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Sol‐Gel Synthesis of High‐Quality Heavy‐Metal Fluoride Glasses
Author(s) -
Dejneka Matthew,
Riman Richard E.,
Snitzer Elias
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1993.tb06621.x
Subject(s) - anhydrous , fluoride , oxidizing agent , materials science , sol gel , rod , metal , amorphous solid , polymerization , oxide , magnesium fluoride , inorganic chemistry , mineralogy , chemical engineering , metallurgy , chemistry , composite material , magnesium , polymer , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Fluoride glasses are excellent laser hosts and are very well suited for a broad spectrum of optical applications. However, current fluoride glass synthesis is expensive. The solgel method is an affordable alternative for producing highperformance, optical‐quality heavy‐metal fluoride glasses. The method involves forming a hydrous oxide gel of the constituent metal alkoxides and salts, polymerizing the solution to form a gel, fluorinating the gel with anhydrous HF, melting the amorphous material in an oxidizing atmosphere of SF 6 , and casting the melt into desired shapes. ZBLA (57ZrF 4 ·36BaF 2 ·4LaF 3 ·3AlF 3 , in mol%) and Nd‐doped (0.3 mol%) ZBLA glass rods were prepared by this process and their properties were measured. The solgel‐based glasses had thermal and optical properties similar to those found in the literature for conventionally prepared fluorides.