Miscellaneous Low Expansion Materials

Other low expansion materials include ultra low expansion (ULE®) titanium silica glass and VYCOR® brand glass form Corning Incorporated, and CLERACREAM®-Z glass ceramic from OHARH.

Corning titanium silica glass has the unique characteristics of a low thermal expansion coefficient, light density and excellent resistance to chemical attacks. These properties have made it the material of choice in applications ranging from machine tool reference blocks to solid and lightweight mirror blanks for larger astronomical telescopes and space satellite applications. The 2.4-meter primary mirror for the Hubble space Telescope is made from Corning ULE glass.

Both VYCOR brand porous glass 7930 and VYCOR 7913 have low thermal expansion and excellent resistant to thermal shocks. VYCOR glass 7930 is an open cell, porous glass which exhibits excellent absorbing properties. The open-cell network allows permeability on a selective basis and the glass 7930 is often used for filtration and separation of compounds. VYCOR 7913 can be used at continuous temperatures up to 900°C. This feature permits the use of fluctuating thermal sources, such as arc lamps and other high-intensity sources.

CLEARCERAM-Z (CCZ) is glass ceramic with an ultra-low thermal expansion and offers outstanding thermal, mechanical and chemical properties. There are two versions of CLEARCERAM-Z; CCZ Regular and CCZHS. CCZ Regular offers low thermal expansion across a wide temperature range, while CCZHS offers lower thermal expansion near room temperature. Both materials offer superior thermal shock resistance, mechanical properties and excellent resistance to chemical attacks.

Low Expansion Materials :  

• Fused Silica
• ZERODUR®
• Corning Low Expansion Glass, Pyrex®
• ULE® titanium silica glass, VYCOR® brand glass and CLERACREAM®-Z