Zerodur® (Schott Glass)

Zerodur is a glass ceramic with an extremely low thermal expansion coefficient.

Zerodur is a glass ceramic made by Schott Glass that is designed and formulated to exhibit essentially zero thermal expansion over a wide temperature range. This remarkable property is useful where precision parts will face wide thermal conditions in application. An ideal application is as a mirror substrate for astronomical telescopes or ring laser gyroscopes, as well as spacers for some laser assemblies.

Zerodur is an inorganic, nonporous lithium aluminum silicon oxide glass ceramic. It is transparent, but with an amber color. Precision parts are machined using a diamond grinding process and parts can then be optically polished as necessary using chemo-mechanical methods.

China Precision Ceramic has many years of experience fabricating precision parts from this material to exacting customer requirements. The material is readily available in slab form, but can be specified from Schott in large sizes weighing many tons. Since Zerodur is a proprietary material, where absolute material properties are critical to the application, it is best to contact the producer’s website directly to understand availability.

Production is a complicated process requiring melting, casting, annealing, and controlled volume crystallization. For smaller precision parts, China Precision Ceramic is able to source commercial material in its best form and then fabricate it to customer requirements. We are also willing and able to fabricate from customer supplied material if preferred.

Other Glass Ceramics :
Macor
Corning ULE