JP2015129061A - Production method of glass material and production apparatus of glass material - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for producing a homogeneous glass material by a containerless floating method is provided. A glass material lump 12 is heated to melt a glass material lump 12 by irradiating the suspended glass material lump 12 with laser light to obtain a molten glass, and then the molten glass is cooled to obtain a glass material. The spot diameter of the laser beam is set to 0.2 to 1.2 times the diameter of the glass raw material block 12. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass material manufacturing method and a glass material manufacturing apparatus.

In recent years, research on a containerless floating method has been made as a method for producing a glass material. For example, in Patent Document 1, a laser beam is focused on a raw material lump containing a metal oxide such as Al ₂ O ₃ , La ₂ O ₃ , and ZrO ₂ suspended in a gas floating furnace, and then cooled by cooling. The method of vitrification by doing is described. Thus, in the containerless floating method, since the progress of crystallization due to contact with the wall surface of the container can be suppressed, even a material that could not be vitrified by a conventional manufacturing method using a container. It may be vitrified. Therefore, the containerless floating method is a method that should be noted as a method capable of producing a glass material having a novel composition.

International Publication No. 2010/071143

  The containerless floating method described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that a homogeneous glass material may not be obtained.

  A main object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of producing a homogeneous glass material by a containerless floating method.

  The method for producing a glass material according to the present invention comprises irradiating a suspended glass raw material lump with laser light to heat and melt the glass raw material lump to obtain molten glass, and then cooling the molten glass to obtain the glass material. It is the manufacturing method of the glass material to obtain. In the manufacturing method of the glass material which concerns on this invention, the spot diameter of a laser beam shall be 0.2 to 1.2 times the diameter of a glass raw material lump.

  In the manufacturing method of the glass material which concerns on this invention, it is preferable to irradiate a laser beam so that the whole spot of a laser beam may be located in the surface of a glass raw material lump.

  The apparatus for producing a glass material according to the present invention is to irradiate a suspended glass raw material lump with laser light to heat and melt the glass raw material lump to obtain molten glass, and then cool the molten glass to obtain the glass material. It is the manufacturing apparatus of the glass material to obtain. The glass material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a laser beam irradiation apparatus that irradiates a laser beam. The laser beam irradiation apparatus irradiates a laser beam whose spot diameter is 0.2 to 1.2 times the diameter of the glass raw material block.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the method which can manufacture a homogeneous glass material by a containerless floating method can be provided.

It is typical sectional drawing of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass material which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic plan view of a part of the molding surface in the first embodiment. It is typical sectional drawing of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass material which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an example of the preferable form which implemented this invention is demonstrated. However, the following embodiment is merely an example. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

  Moreover, in each drawing referred in embodiment etc., the member which has a substantially the same function shall be referred with the same code | symbol. The drawings referred to in the embodiments and the like are schematically described. A ratio of dimensions of an object drawn in a drawing may be different from a ratio of dimensions of an actual object. The dimensional ratio of the object may be different between the drawings. The specific dimensional ratio of the object should be determined in consideration of the following description.

(First embodiment)
In this embodiment, a normal glass material, for example, a glass material that does not contain a network-forming oxide, and can be suitably manufactured even for a glass material having a composition that does not vitrify by a melting method using a container. Will be described. Specifically, according to the method of the present embodiment, for example, barium titanate glass material, lanthanum-niobium composite oxide glass material, lanthanum-niobium-aluminum composite oxide glass material, lanthanum-niobium-tantalum A composite oxide glass material, a lanthanum-tungsten composite oxide glass material, or the like can be suitably produced.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a glass material manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the glass material manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a mold 10. The molding die 10 has a molding surface 10a. The molding surface 10a is a curved surface. Specifically, the molding surface 10a has a spherical shape.

  The molding die 10 has a gas ejection hole 10b opened in the molding surface 10a. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, a plurality of gas ejection holes 10b are provided. Specifically, the plurality of gas ejection holes 10b are arranged radially from the center of the molding surface 10a.

  In addition, the shaping | molding die 10 may be comprised with the porous body which has an open cell. In that case, the gas ejection hole 10b is constituted by continuous bubbles.

  The gas ejection hole 10b is connected to a gas supply mechanism 11 such as a gas cylinder. Gas is supplied from the gas supply mechanism 11 to the molding surface 10a via the gas ejection hole 10b.

  The type of gas is not particularly limited. The gas may be, for example, air or oxygen, or an inert gas such as nitrogen gas, argon gas, or helium gas.

  When manufacturing a glass material using the manufacturing apparatus 1, first, the glass raw material lump 12 is arrange | positioned on the molding surface 10a. The glass raw material lump 12 may be, for example, a glass material raw material powder integrated by press molding or the like. The glass raw material lump 12 may be, for example, a sintered body obtained by integrating glass raw material powders by press molding or the like and sintering them. Moreover, the glass raw material lump 12 may be an aggregate of crystals having a composition equivalent to the target glass composition, for example.

  The shape of the glass raw material lump 12 is not particularly limited. The glass raw material block 12 may be, for example, a lens shape, a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape, a polygonal column shape, a rectangular parallelepiped shape, an elliptical shape, or the like.

  Next, the glass raw material block 12 is floated on the molding surface 10a by ejecting gas from the gas ejection holes 10b. That is, the glass raw material lump 12 is held in a state where the glass raw material lump 12 is not in contact with the molding surface 10a. In this state, the glass material block 12 is irradiated with laser light from the laser light irradiation device 13. Thereby, the glass raw material lump 12 is heated and melted to be vitrified to obtain molten glass. Thereafter, the glass material can be obtained by cooling the molten glass. In the step of heating and melting the glass raw material lump 12 and the step of cooling until the temperature of the molten glass and further the glass material becomes at least the softening point or less, at least gas ejection is continued, and the glass raw material lump 12 and the molten glass Or it is preferable to suppress that a glass material and the molding surface 10a contact.

  Usually, when heating a glass raw material lump by irradiating a laser beam, as described in Patent Document 1, in order to obtain high heating efficiency, the laser light is collected at one point on the surface of the glass raw material lump. Light up. However, as a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have found that it is difficult to obtain a homogeneous glass material when the laser beam is focused on one point on the surface of the glass raw material block. The reason for this is not clear, but when the laser light is focused on one point on the surface of the glass raw material lump, the temperature of the part where the laser is focused becomes too high, resulting in ablation, etc. It is thought that crystals and striae occur in

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the spot diameter of the laser light is set to 0.2 to 1.2 times the diameter of the glass raw material block 12. Thus, ablation or the like can be suppressed by enlarging the spot diameter of the laser light on the surface of the glass raw material lump 12 without concentrating the laser light on one point on the surface of the glass raw material lump 12. Therefore, a homogeneous glass material can be manufactured.

  From the viewpoint of obtaining a more homogeneous glass material, the spot diameter of the laser light is preferably 0.4 to 1.1 times the diameter of the glass raw material block 12 and more preferably 0.5 to 1 times. preferable.

  In addition, the planar view shape of the glass raw material lump 12 does not necessarily need to be circular. When the planar view shape of the glass raw material lump 12 is not circular, the diameter of the glass raw material lump 12 is the average equivalent diameter of the glass raw material lump 12.

  It is preferable to irradiate the laser beam so that the entire spot of the laser beam is positioned on the glass raw material block 12. By doing so, it can suppress that the shaping | molding die 10 is irradiated with a laser beam, and the temperature of the shaping | molding die 10 rises. Since the temperature of the shaping | molding die 10 is kept low, the cooling rate of the molten glass in a cooling process can be raised. Therefore, it is possible to more suitably manufacture a glass material having a composition that does not vitrify by a melting method using a container that does not include a network-forming oxide.

  Hereinafter, other examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. In the following description, members having substantially the same functions as those of the first embodiment are referred to by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the glass material manufacturing apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment.

  In the first embodiment, the example in which the plurality of gas ejection holes 10b are opened on the molding surface 10a has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, like the glass material manufacturing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 3, one gas ejection hole 10 b opened at the center of the molding surface 10 a may be provided. Even in this case, similarly to the first embodiment, by restricting the spot diameter of the laser light as described above, a homogeneous glass material can be stably manufactured.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2: Glass material manufacturing apparatus 10: Mold 10a: Molding surface 10b: Gas ejection hole 11: Gas supply mechanism 12: Glass raw material lump 13: Laser beam irradiation apparatus

Claims (3)

A glass material manufacturing method for obtaining a glass material by cooling the molten glass after obtaining the molten glass by heating and melting the glass material lump by irradiating laser light to the suspended glass material lump, ,
A method for producing a glass material, wherein a spot diameter of the laser beam is 0.2 to 1.2 times a diameter of the glass raw material lump.   The manufacturing method of the glass material of Claim 1 which irradiates the said laser beam so that the whole spot of the said laser beam may be located in the surface of the said glass raw material lump. A glass material manufacturing apparatus for obtaining a glass material by cooling the molten glass after obtaining the molten glass by heating and melting the glass material mass by irradiating laser light to the suspended glass material mass. ,
Comprising a laser beam irradiation device for irradiating the laser beam;
The said laser beam irradiation apparatus is a manufacturing apparatus of the glass material which irradiates the laser beam whose magnitude | size of a spot diameter is 0.2 to 1.2 times the diameter of the said glass raw material lump.

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