Sol-gel method for the preparation of monolithic multicomponent oxide glasses
AssigneesInstituto Guido Donegani S.p.A., Enichem S.p.A.
InventorJ. Brian Caldwell
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Abstract
An improved method for the production of a monolithic multicomponent oxide glass is achieved by forming an oxide host gel by a sol-gel process, placing the host gel in an aqueous solution of a salt of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu and Pb, precipitating the metal salt in the gel and sintering the gel containing the precipitated salt. The method can incorporate large amounts of metals into the glass which are otherwise difficult or impossible to incorporate into precursor gels by conventional methods.
Claims27
A method for the preparation of a monolithic multicomponent oxide glass, comprising the steps of:
- (a) gelling a mixture comprising a silicon alkoxide, a titanium alkoxide, an alcohol, and an amount of water and acid sufficient to partially hydrolyze the silicon alkoxide, to obtain a gel, wherein said silicon alkoxide is present in an amount sufficient to result in said glass containing from 30 to 98 mole percent of silica;
- (b) diffusing uniformly into said gel a solution of at least one salt of at least one alkali metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs and mixtures thereof in an amount sufficient to result in said glass containing from 5 to 30 mole percent of an oxide of said alkali metal;
- (c) precipitating said uniformly diffused alkali metal salt in said gel to obtain a gelled mixture;
- and
- (d) sintering said gelled mixture.
A method for the preparation of a monolithic multicomponent oxide glass, comprising the steps of:
- (a) gelling a mixture comprising a silicon alkoxide, an alkoxide of titanium, an alcohol, and an amount of water and acid sufficient to partially hydrolyze the silicon alkoxide, to obtain a gel, wherein said silicon alkoxide is present in an amount sufficient to result in said glass containing from 30 to 98 mole percent of silica, and said alkoxide of titanium is present in an amount sufficient to result in said glass containing from 1 to 40 mole percent of an oxide of said titanium;
- (b) diffusing uniformly into said gel a solution of at least one salt of at least one high refractive index modifying metal selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Pb and mixtures thereof in an amount sufficient to result in said glass containing from 1 to 40 mole percent of an oxide of said high refractive index modifying metal;
- (c) precipitating said high refractive index modifying metal salt in said gel to obtain a gelled mixture;
- and
- (d) sintering said gelled mixture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.