Apparatus and techniques

J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum., Vol. 16. 1983. Printed in Great Britain

in the case of C a F z (670 K). However, our method is much more simple and no special equipment (e.g. evaporating system)
is required. The layer has a good optical quality. shows no birefringence and adheres well to the glass. This work was carried out under the Research Project MRIS.

A sodium-resistant Na2 B4 0 coating of a 7

glass cell
T Stacewicz and J Krasinski Institute of Experimental Physics, Warsaw University. Hoza 69, Warsaw. Poland
Received 4 January 1983, in final form 21 April 1983

Abstract. A simple method of glass protection against the darkening caused by sodium vapour by the use of a N a 2 B 4 O 7 layer is described. The coating effectively limits the rate of the darkening of glass in temperatures up to 650 K.

1. Introduction It is well known that under the influence of sodium vapour at elevated temperatures glass becomes darkened. Mechanisms for this process were described by Wheeldon (1959), Elyard and Rawson (1962) and Burns (1965). One of the methods of avoiding this darkening is the use of alkali-resistant glasses (Burggraaf and van Velzen 1969, Elyard and Rawson 1962, Burgmans and Woerdman 1976) or crystals (sapphire, MgO, CaF,, NaF). However, the technology of production using such materials is rather difficult. The other method is to coat the glass with an alkali-resistant layer. e.g. alkaline earth oxides ( B P 1248747 1971) or C a F 2 (Laux and Schulz 1980). In this paper we describe a simple method of glass protection using sodium biborate (Na2B,0,). 2. Description of the method The washed and degreased internal surface of a Pyrex cell was wetted by a saturated aqueous solution of borax decahydrate. The cell was warmed up gently to evaporate the water and then was heated to a temperature near 700 K to form anhydrous sodium biborate crystals on the glass surface. The temperature 0 should not surpass the melting point of the crystals ( ~ 8 0 K) because this would seriously damage the optical quality of the protecting layer. After the cell had cooled down excrescences of N a Z B 4 O 7were rubbed off the glass using a piece of ordinary paper to achieve a slightly matt surface, uniformly covered by sodium biborate powder. The excess of N a 2 B 4 0 , dust was removed by blowing. Then the cell was heated in a flame to a temperature near the softening point of Pyrex (>800 K). In this way the sodium biborate powder was melted and a high-opticalquality protecting layer on-the glass surface was achieved. During evacuation on the vacuum system the cell was heated strongly to remove any water remaining in the layer. More than thirty Pyrex cells protected by N a 2 B 4 0 7coating were tested in experiments with sodium vapour at temperatures up to 700 K (Stacewicz and Krasinski 1981). The darkening was insignificant up to 620 K. At 650 K the transmission of the cell was reduced by 50% in 5 h: at 680 K the transmission was reduced by 5096 in 2 h.

References Burggraaf A J and van Velzen H C 1969 Glasses resistant to sodium vapour at temperatures to 700 "C J . Am. Ceram. Soc. 5 2 238-42 Burgmans A L a n d Woerdman J P 1976 Selective reflection from sodium vapour at low densities J . PhJaique 31 677-81 Burns J A 1965 The discoloration of vitreous silica by sodium vapor Glass Technol. 6 17-2 1 Elyard C A and Rawson M 1962 The resistance of glasses of simple composition to attack by sodium vapour at elevated temperatures Adcances in Glass Technologj~(New York: Plenum) pp 270-86 Laux L and Schulz G 1980 A sodium-resistance glass cell by coating with C a F 2 J . Phj.s. E: Sci. Instrum. 13 823-4 Stacewicz T and Krasinski J 1981 Investigations of ionization of sodium vapour by resonant laser light Opt. Commun. 39 35-9 Wheeldon J W 1959 Absorption of sodium and argon by glass Brit. J . Appl. Ph1.s. 10 295-8 British Patent 1248747 1971 Improvements in or relating to methods of coating vitreous materials with alkaline earth metal oxides

3. Discussion As outlined above the sodium biborate layer formed from water solution reduces effectively the darkening of glass caused by sodium vapour at elevated temperatures. The temperature range (up to 650 K) for the cell protected by N a 2 B 4 0 7is smaller than

0 1983 The Institute of Physics