Molecular Purity: Mitigating High-Temperature Devitrification
Industrial fused quartz manufactured by Zelvo Quartz is synthesized using high-purity natural silica sand from Donghai County, refined to an elemental purity exceeding 99.99% SiO₂ (less than 20 ppm total metallic impurities including Al, Fe, Ti, Ca, and alkali metals). In high-temperature tube furnaces operating across industrial parks in Greater Yangon, trace alkali metals (such as sodium and potassium) act as catalysts for nucleation, accelerating the transition from an amorphous glassy state to crystalline cristobalite—a phenomenon known as devitrification.
Devitrification produces severe micro-cracking and loss of mechanical integrity during cooling cycles due to the sudden 2.8% volume change accompanying the β-to-α cristobalite phase transformation at 220°C–270°C. By strictly limiting trace alkali cations to sub-ppm levels, our OEM quartz tubes maintain an exceptional continuous operating threshold of 1100°C, and survive short-duration thermal excursions up to 1300°C without surface hazing or structural weakening.
Furthermore, the ultra-low linear thermal expansion coefficient of our clear fused quartz (5.5 × 10⁻⁷ /K between 20°C and 1000°C) allows components to withstand instantaneous thermal shock: heating a tube to 1100°C and plunging it directly into ice water without fracture, providing essential safety for unpredictable power or cooling interruptions.