Planar Flame Hydrolysis and Sintering of Silica Parts

An apparatus and process has been designed and developed to fabricate silica soot in a planar orientation to form preforms that are sintered to clear glass in the same process platform. Flame hydrolysis is used to combust and react silica precursors to create SiO₂ particles. The silica particles are generated on the order of 100 nm in size and stick to the target through the mechanism of thermophoresis. The principle precursor used to produce the silica is an organometalic liquid, octamethylcyclotetra-siloxane. The flame is a methane/oxygen torch with additional oxygenprovided for chemical stoichiometry targets. The silica particles created are directed towards, and collected upon, a rotating circular target placed several inches downstream of the flame. Preforms of various diameters and thickness are fabricated over time.