Gelcasting polycrystalline alumina

Abstract

This work is being done as part of a CRADA with Osram-Sylvania, Inc. (OSI) OSI is a major U.S. manufacturer of high-intensity lighting. Among its products is the Lumalux{reg_sign} line of high-pressure sodium vapor arc lamps, which are used for industrial, highway, and street lighting. The key to the performance of these lamps is the polycrystalline alumina (PCA) tube that is used to contain the plasma that is formed in the electric arc. That plasma consists of ionized sodium, mercury, and xenon vapors. The key attributes of the PCA tubes are their transparency (95% total transmittance in the visible region), their refractoriness (inner wall temperature can reach 1400{degrees}C), and their chemical resistance (sodium and mercury vapor are extremely corrosive). The current efficiency of the lamps is very high, on the order of several hundred lumens / watt. (Compare - incandescent lamps -13 lumens/watt fluorescent lamps -30 lumens/watt.) Osram-Sylvania would like to explore using gelcasting to form PCA tubes for Lumalux{reg_sign} lamps, and eventually for metal halide lamps (known as quartz-halogen lamps). Osram-Sylvania, Inc. currently manufactures PCA tubes by isostatic pressing. This process works well for the shapes that they presently use. However, there are several types of tubes that are either difficult or impossible to make by isostatic pressing. It is the desire to make these new shapes and sizes of tubes that has prompted Osram-Sylvania`s interest in gelcasting. The purpose of the CRADA is to determine the feasibility of making PCA items having sufficient optical quality that they are useful in lighting applications using gelcasting.