Method for drying oxide glasses
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications plc
InventorsKeith J. Beales, Steve F. Carter, Sally Partington, Paul W. France
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Abstract
An oxide glass is dried by passing through a melt of the glass fluorine or another perhalogenated compound including fluorine atoms. For example, C.sub.3 F.sub.8 (e.g. after pre-cracking) can be used to reduce the OH content of a borosilicate glass, and the loss of an optical fibre drawn from such a glass, to low levels.
Claims11
A method for drying an oxide glass, and thereby reducing the water content of the glass, which comprises providing glass in a molten state, and passing a drying gas through the glass while it is in the molten state, in which the drying gas is of a perhalogenated compound containing only halogen and non-halogen atoms, where the non-halogen atoms are either carbon or sulphur, and at least some of the halogen atoms in the perhalogenated compound are fluorine.
A process for drying borosillicate glass, and thereby reducing the water content of the glass, which comprises providing glass in a molten state, and passing a drying gas through the glass while it is in the molten state, in which the drying gas is as of a perfluorinated compound selected from SF.sub.6 and fluorocarbons having only carbon and fluorine atoms and having 1 to 5 atoms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.