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US 6,739,155 B1Granted
Quartz making an elongated fused quartz article using a furnace with metal-lined walls
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRobert Arthur Giddings, Frederic Francis Ahlgren
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A crucible for melting a silica for fusion of said silica into a desired shape. The crucible having a main body with inner and outer surfaces comprised of a refractory material. In addition, at least a portion of the inner surface includes a barrier layer comprised of a material selected from rhenium, osmium, iridium, and mixtures thereof. An inlet tube to the crucible being provided to supply an oxidizing gas to a melt zone.
Claims9
A method for forming an elongated fused quartz article comprising:
- feeding a SiO2 material into a furnace melting zone comprising a refractory material wall comprising tungsten, molybdenum or mixtures thereof with a protective lining selected from the group consisting of rhenium, osmium, iridium and mixtures thereof;
- feeding a gas mixture comprising at least (1) one inert carrier gas comprising a member selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen carrier gas and a noble carrier gas and (2) an oxidizing gas into the protectively lined furnace melting zone;
- fusing the SiO2 material in the protectively lined melting zone of the furnace in the presence of the gas mixture;
- and
- drawing the fused SiO2 material from the furnace to form the fused quartz article.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.