Development of chalcogenide glass with thermal stability for molded infrared lens

Chalcogenide glasses have been attracted because of their use in moldable lenses for the application in range of 3-12 mu m. In this study, amorphous Ge-Sb-Se chalcogenide was prepared by a standard melt-quenching technique for moldable lens. Moldable lens should have unique thermal mechanic properties in order to be applied to molding process. Thus, the optical and thermal properties to find out right composition were characterized by IR transmission spectroscopy and DSC, respectively. Specifically, the Ge:Sb ratio were controlled in order to find out the most stable glass forming area. The relations between thermal properties and the moldability were studied by using an optical microscopy in term of thermal properties such as Tg and Tx. Transcription properties of the surface of lens or molds were explained in terms of thermal properties in their composition The preferential Ge:Sb ratio in Ge-Sb-Se based chalcogenide glasses was selected for producing moldable lens.