Quartz glass

Description

Pure quartz that has been melted then cooled to form a vitreous material. Quartz glass, or fused quartz, has excellent thermal stability and can withstand large or rapid temperature changes without shattering. It can be used continuously at temperature up to 1000C (1830F), while normal glass devitrifies at about 600C (1100F). Fused quartz transmits ultraviolet and infrared radiation better than glass and is used for glass cuvettes in ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometers. Fused quartz is also used for glass fibers, fabrics, optical glass, crucibles, and glass tubes.

Synonyms and Related Terms

fused quartz; fused silica; verre de quartz (Fr.); kwartsglas (Ned.); vidro de quartzo (Port.)

Authority

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 645

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998