Optical Materials
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Acrylics ((Poly(methyl methacrylate) – PMMA)) (Refractive Index 1.491 @589nm) are available on the market by the trade names Plexiglas®, Acrylite®, Lucite®, and Perspex®. They offer advantages such as excellent optical clarity, high strength-to-weight ratio, and good mechanical properties. This optical polymer finds applications in lenses, medical components, sight gauges, light pipes, and light fixtures.
Polystyrene (Refractive Index 1.590 @589nm) is a transparent, rigid, and easy-to-mold thermoplastic. Identified with the trade name STYRON™, polystyrene offers good dimensional stability, processability, attractive light-transmission properties, chemical resistance, and radiation stability. It has applications in diagnostic medical optics components.
Polyetherimide (PEI) (Refractive Index 1.682 @589nm) is an amorphous engineering thermoplastic. It offers exceptional mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties. It has a high glass transition temperature (Tg), making it a good choice for higher temperature applications. Medical, industrial, automotive, and electrical applications can benefit from this material. `
Poly-Carbonate (PC) (Refractive Index 1.586 @589nm) offers more strength than plate glass and acrylic plastic. Polycarbonate (Trade name – Lexan) plastics possess impact resistance and transparency. PC internally transmits light almost as effectively as glass. These materials find uses in exterior lighting fixtures, medical devices, protective gear, and automotive components.
Methyl-pentene (Refractive Index 1.467 @589nm) (trade name TPX™) is a 4-methyl pentene-1-based olefin copolymer. Despite being a crystalline olefin polymer, it shows transparency. It provides good heat resistance and chemical resistance. It has the lowest density among thermoplastic polymers. It is used in windows for dynamic compression experiments, medical devices, and LED molds.
ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is an opaque engineering thermoplastic. ABS (trade name Acrylon) consists of three monomers: acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene. With strong resistance to corrosive chemicals and physical impacts, it is very easy to machine and has a low melting temperature. It is suitable to use in the injection molding manufacturing processes. ABS has wide applications in auto parts, consumer products, and electronic housings.
Cyclic Olefin Polymers (COPs) (Refractive Index 1.530 @589nm) are a new class of materials offering higher thermal stability and chemical resistance over standard polyolefins. COPs are increasingly popular as a substrate material for microfluidics. High chemical resistance, low water absorption, and good optical transparency in the near UV range characterize them. These are commercially available with trade names Apel, Arton, Topas, Zeonex, and Zeonor. Packaging, electronic, diagnostic, and optics applications are ideal for them.
Nylon (Refractive Index 1.535 @589nm) molding compounds offer crystal-clear transparency, high durability, and improved processing capabilities. This unique property profile makes the high-performance polymer a preferred material for high-end lenses and visors.
NAS (Refractive Index 1.533–1.567 @589nm) transparent styrene-acrylic copolymers are a strong, stiff, water-clear plastic with excellent thermal stability, better alcohol resistance, and less molded-in stress than acrylic. NAS applications range from medical devices to office accessories.
Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN) (Refractive Index 1.567–1.571 @589nm) resin is a copolymer plastic commonly used in place of polystyrene because it has better thermal resistance. SAN combines polystyrene’s clarity and rigidity with the hardness, strength, heat, and solvent polyacrylonitrile resistance. It enables automotive parts, battery cases, kitchenware, appliances, furniture, and medical supplies applications.
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Syntec Optics’ patented nano-technology techniques – like HRDT (High Refraction Diamond Turning) for newly invented highly engineered resins – enable us to machine polymers like Acrylic, Polycarbonate, Nylon, Acetal, Polystyrene, Rexolite, Zeonex, Ultem, Topas, OKP4, and Teflon. We can also machine metals like Aluminum, Copper, Brass, and most non-ferrous metals. We also diamond turn infrared crystals like Magnesium Fluoride, Calcium Fluoride, Germanium, Potassium Bromide, Zinc Sulfide, and Silver Chloride. Below is a table that summarizes the properties of materials suitable for HRDT and single-point diamond turning (SPDT).
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Low-Tg Glass
We can mold optical, low Tg glass that has a Tg temperature as high as 750°C. It offers a range covering a refractive index of nd = 1.4 – 2.1 and a range of Abbe numbers from 18 to 95. Optical designers can utilize these properties for optimizing their designs in the visible spectrum.
Chalcogenide Glass
We can manufacture infrared optics from chalcogenide glass. Chalcogenide offers low molding temperatures below 400 °C, making it possible to use a variety of materials for the mold tools, which can be machined in-house using single-point diamond turning.
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Wordingham Technologies uses a wide range of materials to manufacture custom optical parts for our customers. Ultem ® combines excellent strength and stiffness with a low coefficient of linear thermal expansion while offering dimensional stability along with extensive chemical resistance. Because of its low weight, it is suitable for medical or head-mounted optical applications. Invar also exhibits lower thermal expansion properties and is often used to require high precision dimensional stability. Invar shows superior strength – ideal in the manufacture of optical devices and metrology instruments.
| Material | Coefficient of linear thermal expansion (a) (10e-06 1/F°) | Density (g / M^ 3 ) |
| Aluminum | 12.3 | 2.7 |
| Brass | 10.4 | 8.7 |
| Copper | 9.3 | 8.9 |
| Stainless Steel | 8.1 | 7.4 |
| Steel | 6.7 | 7.8 |
| Titanium | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| Glass | 3.3 | 2.2 |
| Ultem ® | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Invar | 0.9 | 8.0 |
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