Only diamonds are more durable and scratch-resistant than sapphire. That’s why sapphire is used to make precision sapphire windows that are used for everything from consumer products (think iPhone screens) to defense instrumentation and surveillance systems. IRD Glass has a special division dedicated to working with sapphire and other super hard materials. It’s called IRD Ceramics and it is ITAR Registered and considered a leader in the manufacture of precision sapphire windows.
Sapphire transmits more into the infrared and ultraviolet range than most glasses. Sapphire is also more temperature and chemical resistant than any other transparent (and most non-transparent) materials.
Characteristics of Precision Sapphire Windows
- They have the highest strength of any optical window materials besides diamond
- They have the highest melting point of all optical window materials
- They are the most chemically durable optical window material on the market
- They are extremely resistant to UV radiation darkening, also known as solarization
- They are resistant to nearly every chemical, except boiling concentrated HF and some molten salts
- They are optically transparent from 200nm to 6µm
Common applications
Precision sapphire windows are used in a number of industries running the gamut from surveillance and defense to semiconductors. Infrared surveillance systems, for example, require very precise sapphire windows. Sapphire windows are also used in environments with extremely high temperatures and harsh chemicals.
Procure Precision Sapphire Windows from IRD Glass
IRD Glass manufactures numerous sapphire components, including precision sapphire windows. Our skilled engineers and our state-of-the-art precision sapphire machining equipment allow us to produce custom sapphire windows up to 8” in diameter, making us a single-source supplier for industry-leading companies like Honeywell. Our engineers achieve superior results, exemplary parallelism, and typical flatness of 1/4 wave up to 1/10 wave flatness, while also reducing cycle time, reducing variations, and eliminating defects and waste.
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