Machining/Grinding Zerodur® Glass Ceramic

CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC has years of experience manufacturing micron level tolerance products from Zerodur® glass ceramics. We leverage our in-depth dicing, drilling, milling, grinding, and polishing capability to manufacture the highest quality Zerodur® products. For those applications with exacting optical requirements, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC has the ability to clean, polish, and apply coatings.

Whether you need prototypes or volume production, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC is here to help. Please contact us to discuss your applications.

About Zerodur®

Zerodur®, manufactured by Schott Glass, is a glass-ceramic material so it has both amorphous and crystalline components. This material is thermal cycled during manufacture so that a large percentage of the material is converted to 50nm diameter quartz crystals held in an amorphous matrix. Zerodur® is visually transparent because the refractive indices of the amorphous and crystalline phases are almost identical, but scattering from the crystalline interfaces limits this material’s use in applications requiring low transmission losses.

The ultra low coefficient of expansion of Zerodur results from the fact that the amorphous phase has a positive coefficient of thermal expansion, while the crystalline phase has a negative coefficient of expansion at room temperature. The combination of the two phases results in very small thermal expansion over most useful temperature ranges.

This glass ceramic is similar in many respects to ULE® manufactured by Corning, Inc.

Zerodur® Ceramic Glass Applications

  • High tolerance optics
  • Space optics
  • High power laser beam steering optics
  • Micro-optics bench
  • Stand-offs

Zerodur® Properties

 

Units

Zerodur®
Softening Point C
Annealing Point C 970
Strain Point C
Max Use Temperature C 600 - 850
Thermal Conductivity W/(m C) 1.46 - 1.6
Specific Heat J/(Jg C) 820
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion 1/C (x10^-6) -0.1  to  0.1
Color Transparent
Moh Hardness
Knoop Hardness kg/mm^2 620
Density g/cm^3 2.53
Compressive Strength MPa
Tensile Strength MPa 57
Bending Strength GPa
Young's Modulus MPa 83 - 90
Poisson's ratio 0.24
Fracture Toughness MPa m^1/2
Dielectric Strength kv/cm
Dielectric Constant (@1MHz) 7.4
Dielectric Loss Tangent
Resistivity ohm/cm 2x10^13
Usable Transmission Range um 0.50 - 2.7
Refractive Index (@550nm) 1.54
The information provided in this table is for room temperature only, and is a compilation of publicly available data.  This information is provided for comparison purposes only, and is not intended to be warrantable.   Further, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC disclaims any and all liability from errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

 

Please contact us if you would like to discuss your Zerodur® dicing, drilling, milling, grinding, polishing or any other machining applications.