MATERIALS

Sapphire

McDANEL MATERIALS

Purity

Sapphire exhibits exceptional performance in a number of applications that require extreme robustness.

Sapphire (single-crystal aluminum oxide) exhibits exceptional performance in a number of applications that require extreme mechanical, optical, thermal and chemical robustness. It survives in the harshest applications where polycrystalline alumina can fail.
McDanel can provide several grades of sapphire windows, flat stock, optics, tubes, rods, and custom shapes as well as using sapphire in our industry leading windows. We also have significant capabilities to produce custom engineered sapphire solutions.

Grades

There are numerous sapphire growth methods & grades. Generally, the higher the grade the better the transmission in the UV and IR, and the less light scatter and lattice distortion. The best grades, in particular, UV grade will not solarize.
Verneuil—Original & simplest growth method, lowest cost, excellent for mechanical applications & situations where optical clarity is not critical. Good for lower quality watch crystals & observation ports

EFG (Stepanov)—Edge defined growth method (to be exact, Edge-Defined Film-Fed Growth) for near net growth of tubes & large sheets. Better quality than Verneuil, but not as pure & defect free as Kyropoulos or CZ. Excellent for most window applications including scanner windows & viewports and lower cost than Kyropoulos & HEM

Kyropoulos & CZ—Excellent optical properties, ideal method for most optical applications except long exposure high UV & extreme power threshold requirements. Also preferred for high purity applications like semiconductor, LED fabrication & high purity chemistry

HEM—The best quality sapphire, but difficult to acquire & considerably more costly compared to other grades. Quality compared to Kyropoulos usually not significant enough to justify cost for most applications. Best for extreme power & UV applications & for when zero fluorescence &/or high-power threshold is required

Typical Uses

  • High temperature and chemical resistant windows
  • Components for plasma processing systems
  • Use in UV and IR lamps

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Data Sheets & SDS
Sapphire Reference Table
Sapphire Properties Data Sheet
Sapphire Properties: Thermal, Electrical and Optical

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