Latest on Fluoride Materials

2024/01/01

Latest on Fluoride Materials

Fluorides are pervasive in modern technology. Materion’s global network of fluoride technical specialists can provide you with a variety of materials, industry-leading advice, service and support. The many industrial applications for fluoride compounds – such as UV optics and optical components, Aluminum smelting, ceramic glazes, glass lenses/ windows, metallic alloys, and reflective coatings – require Materion to remain dedicated to finding solutions for our varied customers.

Materion’s technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities enable us to deliver exact fluoride chemistry for direct use or compounding.  Our various reaction, melting and forming techniques allow us to produce the best products according to your demanding material specifications.  Whether in the form of granules, pellets, powders or targets, our selection spans industrial additives like Aluminum Fluoride through classical coating materials such as Magnesium Fluoride, Yttrium Fluoride and Ytterbium Fluoride. Our complete host of UV, VIS and IR coating materials includes the following highlighted below.  

Sodium Aluminum Fluoride (“Cryolite”) - With an index close to that of water, Cryolite can be used with a correspondingly high index material such as Zinc Sulfide and Titanium Oxides for optical coatings.  Along with Neodymium, Gadolinium and Lanthanum Fluorides, Cryolite is often a candidate for use in high laser damage threshold coatings.

Thorium Fluoride – A mainstay for defense and security optics, this high index material for IR coatings is known for durable performance at the critical 10.6 µm wavelength and beyond.  Due to its radioactivity, intense searches have been conducted to find replacements for different parts of the IR spectrum.  Barium, Yttrium and Ytterbium Fluorides are the most common replacements.

Barium Fluoride – Often found as a substrate/window in the UV, as well as being a reasonably durable IR coating material.  It is often used in specialized coating techniques or chemical mixtures to improve shock resistance and spectral performance.  Barium Fluoride is common for thermal deposition and can be used to improve energy assistance for long wave IR designs.

Lanthanum Fluoride – An essential component of a heavy Fluoride glass known for its superior transmittance in the infrared range, therefore used for fiber-optical communication systems.  It is also used in phosphor lamp coatings and as a coating material for the deep UV.

Magnesium Fluoride - This material is transparent over an extremely wide range of wavelengths, from deep UV to the near IR.  It is a workhorse coating material for anti-reflection coatings on specialty optics.  A staple with electron beam deposition, it can also be deposited with thermal and sputtering techniques for specific applications. 

Materion can manufacture custom Fluoride compositions to your exact specifications. We maintain specific custom synthesis, controlled atmosphere handling, custom particle sizing and specialized packaging for each product.  Our scientists actively participate in industry research and road mapping initiatives to understand how new technologies will influence Fluoride materials development and help us create smarter solutions for your industry.

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