A New Family of Lead-Free Optical Glasses

With environmental regulations forbidding the use of lead in consumer products, scientists in Canada have developed, synthesized and tested a new family of special optical glasses that contain no lead but perform like traditional lead-based optical glass.

J. W. Zwanziger and colleagues set out to understand origins of the so-called "zero-stress optic response," which underpins the properties of glasses used in rear-projection televisions, liquid crystal on silicon projection systems, optical research equipment and other products. In a report scheduled for the Jan. 23 issue of ACS' Chemistry of Materials, a bi-weekly journal, they describe finding a simple rule for choosing the composition of glass to minimize the stress optic response. The rule predicted the existence of previously unknown optic glasses.

The researchers then synthesized a variety of alternatives to lead-based glass, producing a new family of lead-free, zero-stress glasses with optical properties like traditional lead-based glasses. - American Chemical Society