Glass, optical properties

Optical Properties. Teflon FEP fluorocarbon film transmits more ultraviolet, visible light, and infrared radiation than ordinary window glass. The refractive index of FEP film is 1.341—1.347 (74). 

Finally, the nature of the crystalline microstmcture, ie, crystal size and morphology and the textural relationship among the crystals and glass, is the key to many mechanical and optical properties, including transparency/opacity, strength and fracture toughness, and machinabiUty. These microstmctures can be quite complex and often are distinct from conventional ceramic microstmctures (6). 

Certain glass-ceramic materials also exhibit potentially useful electro-optic effects. These include glasses with microcrystaUites of Cd-sulfoselenides, which show a strong nonlinear response to an electric field (9), as well as glass-ceramics based on ferroelectric perovskite crystals such as niobates, titanates, or zkconates (10—12). Such crystals permit electric control of scattering and other optical properties. 

Oxides. Although not widespread commercially, glass-ceramics consisting of various oxide crystals in a matrix of siUceous residual glass offer properties not available with mote common siUcate crystals. In particular, glass-ceramics based on spinels and perovskites can be quite refractory and can yield useful optical and electrical properties. 

Perovskites have the chemical formula ABO, where A is an 8- to 12-coordinated cation such as an alkaU or alkaline earth, and B is a small, octahedraHy coordinated high valence metal such as Ti, Zr, Nb, or Ta. Glass-ceramics based on perovskite crystals ate characteri2ed by their unusual dielectric and electrooptic properties. Examples include highly crystalline niobate glass-ceramics which exhibit nonlinear optical properties (12), as well as titanate and niobate glass-ceramics with very high dielectric constants (11,14). 

Relatively few processible polyimides, particularly at a reasonable cost and iu rehable supply, are available commercially. Users of polyimides may have to produce iutractable polyimides by themselves in situ according to methods discussed earlier, or synthesize polyimides of unique compositions iu order to meet property requirements such as thermal and thermoxidative stabilities, mechanical and electrical properties, physical properties such as glass-transition temperature, crystalline melting temperature, density, solubility, optical properties, etc. It is, therefore, essential to thoroughly understand the stmcture—property relationships of polyimide systems, and excellent review articles are available (1—5,92). 

Aesthetic dental ceramics are essentially glass-matrix materials with varying volume fractions of crystalline fillers. Crystalline fillers are used in the glass matrix both for dispersion strengthening, usually at volume fractions of 40—70%, and for altering optical properties, usually at low volume fractions. Dental ceramics are generally manufactured from two distinct classes of materials, ie, beneficiated feldspathic minerals and glass—ceramics. 

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