JP6179309B2 - Manufacturing method of glass material - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a glass material.

In recent years, research on a containerless floating method has been made as a method for producing a glass material. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a raw material lump containing a metal oxide such as Al ₂ O ₃ , La ₂ O ₃ , ZrO ₂ or the like suspended in a gas floating furnace is irradiated with a laser beam, heated and melted, and then cooled. Thus, a method for vitrification 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

  Patent Document 1 describes the following method as a method for producing a glass raw material lump. Baking is performed after adding ethanol to a raw material batch obtained by mixing glass raw materials such as metal oxides in a desired ratio and further mixing them. The glass material after firing is ground in a mortar, and ethanol is added to adjust the viscosity, followed by pressing to obtain a disk-shaped glass material lump.

  When the glass raw material lump manufactured by the method described in Patent Document 1 is used, the glass raw material lump is not suitably melted, and it may be difficult to manufacture the glass material.

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

  The method for producing a glass material according to the present invention is a method of producing a glass material lump, and after obtaining a molten glass by heating and melting the suspended glass material lump, the glass material is obtained by cooling the molten glass. It is a manufacturing method. In the manufacturing method of the glass material which concerns on this invention, the process of producing a glass raw material lump is provided with a melting process and a cooling process. In the melting process, the raw material batch is melted. In the cooling step, the melt of the raw material batch is cooled.

  In the method for producing a glass material according to the present invention, the melt of the raw material batch may be cooled to produce a crystal lump, and the crystal lump may be used as the glass raw material lump. At this time, it is preferable that the crystal lump is used as a glass raw material lump after being crushed or cut to a desired size.

  In the method for producing a glass material according to the present invention, the crystal lump may be crushed and then pressed to produce a pellet, and the pellet may be used as a glass raw material lump.

  In the method for producing a glass material according to the present invention, a glass is produced by cooling a melt of a raw material batch, and a pellet is produced by pressing after pulverizing the glass, and the pellet may be used as a glass raw material lump. .

  In the manufacturing method of the glass material which concerns on this invention, you may heat-melt a glass raw material lump by irradiating a laser beam to a glass raw material lump.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the method which can manufacture a glass material suitably 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 this case, the gas ejection hole 10b is constituted by open 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 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.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the glass raw material block 12 is heated and melted by irradiating laser light will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the glass raw material lump may be heated and melted by atmospheric heating or the like.

  By the way, the glass raw material lump is generally constituted by a sintered body of a tablet obtained by press-molding a raw material batch. However, as a result of diligent research, the present inventor has found that when the glass raw material block is composed of a sintered body of a tablet obtained by press-molding the raw material batch, the glass raw material block partially melts, etc. It has been found that the mass may not melt properly. In particular, when a glass raw material lump is locally heated and melted by laser light irradiation, the glass raw material lump is easily melted locally and ablation is likely to occur. Often not. One reason for this is that if there is powder as raw material, the energy required for melting is high, and since the porosity and the thermal conductivity are low, the glass raw material lump is partially heated. And found that it is difficult to be heated to a temperature at which a part is melted.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the raw material batch is once melted (melting step). Thereafter, the melt obtained in the melting step is cooled to produce a glass raw material block 12 (cooling step). By doing in this way, the energy required for melting | dissolving the glass raw material lump 12 can be made small. Further, the thermal conductivity can be increased by increasing the density of the glass raw material block 12. Therefore, it can suppress that the glass raw material lump 12 melt | dissolves partially, and the whole glass raw material lump 12 can be heat-melted suitably. Therefore, a glass material can be manufactured suitably. The raw material batch can be melted using a container such as a crucible, for example.

  For example, the melt of the raw material batch may be cooled to produce a crystal lump, and the crystal lump may be used as the glass raw material lump 12. In this case, since the density of the glass raw material block 12 is high and the thermal conductivity is high, the entire glass raw material block 12 can be heated and melted more suitably. At this time, the crystal lump is preferably used as the glass raw material lump 12 after being crushed or cut to a desired size.

  Note that pellets produced by pressing after crushing the crystal lump may be used as the glass raw material lump 12. Even in this case, since the energy required for melting the glass raw material mass 12 is low, the entire glass raw material mass 12 can be suitably melted.

  For example, a glass produced by cooling a melt of a raw material batch, and pellets produced by pressing after pulverizing the glass may be used as the glass raw material lump 12. Even in this case, since the energy required for melting the glass raw material mass 12 is low, the entire glass raw material mass 12 can be suitably melted.

  In addition, preparation of glass can be performed by the rapid cooling method etc. which cool rapidly by passing molten glass between a pair of metal rollers, or throwing it into water, for example.

  In the present invention, the raw material batch refers to a powder obtained by, for example, preparing a glass raw material such as a metal oxide powder after mixing so that a desired glass composition can be obtained.

  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, the glass material can be suitably manufactured as in the first embodiment.

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 (7)

A glass raw material lump is produced, and after the molten glass raw material lump is heated and melted to obtain a molten glass, a glass material production method for obtaining a glass material by cooling the molten glass,
The step of producing the glass raw material lump includes
A melting step of melting a raw material batch using a melting container;
A cooling step for cooling the melt of the raw material batch;
Equipped with a,
The manufacturing method of the glass material which performs the said fusion | melting process so that the said glass raw material lump does not contain the powder as a raw material .   The method for producing a glass material according to claim 1, wherein a crucible is used as the melting container. The manufacturing method of the glass material of Claim 1 or 2 which cools the melt of the said raw material batch, produces the lump of crystal | crystallization, and uses the lump of crystal | crystallization as the said glass raw material lump. The method for producing a glass material according to claim 3 , wherein the crystal lump is used as the glass raw material lump after being pulverized or cut to a desired size. The manufacturing method of the glass material of Claim 3 which produces a pellet by pressing after grind | pulverizing the said lump of crystal | crystallization, and uses the said pellet as the said glass raw material lump. Producing glass by cooling the melt of the raw material batch,
The manufacturing method of the glass material of Claim 1 or 2 which produces a pellet by pressing after grind | pulverizing the said glass, and uses the said pellet as the said glass raw material lump. The manufacturing method of the glass material as described in any one of Claims 1-6 which heat-melts the said glass raw material lump by irradiating a laser beam to the said glass raw material lump.

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