engineering

Vycor

Vycor is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vycor rather than just read about it. In short: Vycor is the brand name of Corning's high-silica, high-temperature glass. It provides very high thermal shock resistance.

Key takeaways

Vycor belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vycor to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vycor from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vycor is the brand name of Corning's high-silica, high-temperature glass. It provides very high thermal shock resistance. Vycor is approximately 96% silica and 4% boron trioxide, but unlike pure fused silica, it can be readily manufactured in a variety of shapes. Vycor can be subject to prolonged usage at 900 °C. Vycor products are made by a multi-step process. First, a relatively soft alkali-borosilicate glass is melted and formed by typical glassworking techniques into the desired shape. This is heat-treated, which causes the material to separate into two intermingled "phases" with distinct chemical compositions. One phase is rich in alkali and boric oxide and can be easily dissolved in acid. The other phase is mostly silica, which is insoluble. The glass object is then soaked in a hot acid solution, which leaches away the soluble glass phase, leaving an object which is mostly silica. At this stage, the glass is porous. Finally, the object is heated to more than 1200 °C, which consolidates the porous structure, making the object shrink slightly and become non-porous. The finished material is classified as a "reconstructed glass". For some applications the final step is skipped, leaving the glass porous. Such glass has a high affinity for water and makes an excellent getter for water vapour. It is widely used in science and engineering. Vycor has an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion, just one quarter that of Pyrex. This property makes the material suitable for use in applications that demand very high dimensional stability, such as metrology instruments, and for products that need to withstand high thermal-shock loads. Vycor also has ultraviolet transmission to about 250 nm and is used in some germicidal lamps. Based on a reference thickness of 1mm, Vycor glass has an approximately 90% transmission spectra from ~300 nm to 3100 nm. Immersing the porous glass in certain chemical solutions before the final consolidation step produces a colored glass that can withstand high temperatures without degrading. This is used for colored glass filters for various applications. Corning manufactures Vycor products for high-temperature applications, such as evaporating dishes. Porous vycor is a prototypical matrix material for the study of confined liquid physics. Vycor can also be used for removal of 231Pa and 233Pa in fuel recycling.

References

Elmer, Thomas H. (1991). "Porous and Reconstructed Glasses" (PDF). In Schneider, Samuel J. (ed.). Engineered Materials Handbook, Vol. 4: Ceramics and Glasses. Materials Park, OH: ASM International. pp. 427–32. ISBN 0-87170-282-7. Retrieved 2006-05-31. ornl 3830 Chemical Separation Processes for Uranium and Plutonium. 1965.

External links Corning Inc. Archived 2015-03-20 at the Wayback Machine Manufacturer's website Momentive Performance Materials, Inc. Quartz and Low Softening Point Glass (LSPG) Manufacturer Phase separation in borosilicate and alkali earth silicate glasses

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vycor

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vycor claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vycor before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vycor ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vycor

In research: Vycor appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vycor in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vycor is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Glass trademarks and brands, Transparent materials, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vycor outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vycor in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vycor means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vycor out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vycor in simple terms?

Vycor is the brand name of Corning's high-silica, high-temperature glass. It provides very high thermal shock resistance.

Why does Vycor matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vycor?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vycor.