Manufacture of cast quartz products

• Grant number: 97/07451-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: January 01, 1998
• End date: June 30, 1998
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Yoshikazo Ernesto Nagai
• Grantee: Yoshikazo Ernesto Nagai
• Company: Optron Micromecânica Óptica Ltda. - ME
• City: Campinas

Abstract

Cast quartz, because of its thermal, optical, and mechanical properties and its resistance to chemical erosion, is used in various scientific and technological applications, sometimes as a plain structural element in the high-temperature transparent tube, sometimes as the main element in high-performance, telecommunications optical fiber. Mastery of its processing based on the ore is an important target in any scientific and technological policy. This research plan seeks to extend the experiment of fusing quartz from the academic laboratory to the production sector, initially at craftsmen level with production limited by the size of the Brazilian consumer market, which consists of government and a few private research centers. In this initial stage it is intended to transform the Brazilian mined quartz into samples of structural elements and some laboratory objects. To do this, the main item of research equipment, a flame oven of the Verneuil type already manufactured by the company, will undergo modification aimed at increasing the area of deposit to produce larger dowels. The feasibility of producing cast quartz tubes using the same oven will also be researched. (AU)