anybody know quartz glass?
- Thread starter Kinetic
- Start date
Qwiv
Persistant Perspective
Never heard of it being used for a tank. Quartz glass is typically used where heat is concerned and it has a very high melting point. Light bulbs often use it, like halogen and I think double ended MH. It is also used in UV units as most types are also UV transparent, that is why you need the second glass shield on a DE MH bulb.
Looked in my glass book and it didn't even list the structural properties of it. That leads me to believe that the product either is not strong enough to be used structurally or that it is cost prohibitive and there are better products available.
Looked in my glass book and it didn't even list the structural properties of it. That leads me to believe that the product either is not strong enough to be used structurally or that it is cost prohibitive and there are better products available.
Kinetic
Active member
according to wikipedia, if you used Fused Quartz glass, it lacks impurities making it amazingly clear, used for lenses and telescopes etc. It's also said to be pretty rigid. I don't remember what hardness etc. properties mean, but can someone look at the specs at the bottom and maybe we can compare that to glass?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_quartz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_quartz
sfsuphysics
Active member
Quartz hardness is higher than glass 7, but that only an issue for scratching not it's rigidity. And to think "oh great a scratch free glass surface!" think again, most of the rock we use in the tank is softer than glass, what it does do however is gouge the glass, you can put scratches (gouges) in diamonds btw too and diamond is the hardest element we know of.
I don't know why you'd want to make a tank out of fused quartz though, I'm really unsure where you're getting the high optical quality on it though, like any sort of transparent material you get what you pay for, ie you put more effort in removing impurities you'll get clearer glass. I'm also not aware of any place that really makes panes of fused quarts there really is zero reason to have it as a window.
I don't know why you'd want to make a tank out of fused quartz though, I'm really unsure where you're getting the high optical quality on it though, like any sort of transparent material you get what you pay for, ie you put more effort in removing impurities you'll get clearer glass. I'm also not aware of any place that really makes panes of fused quarts there really is zero reason to have it as a window.
