Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Optical Plastic Vs Optical Glass

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Optical Plastic Vs Optical Glass

Optical plastics and optical glass are the two mainstream materials for optical devices, each with unique characteristics and application advantages. First of all, from the perspective of material properties, the refractive index of optical plastics usually ranges from 1.42 to 1.69, the Abbe number ranges from 18.8 to 65.3, and the relative density ranges from 0.83 to 1.46g/cm³. In contrast, optical glass has a wider range of refractive index and dispersion, but optical plastics come at the expense of relatively low heat resistance, high moisture absorption, and a large coefficient of thermal expansion.

Although optical plastics are relatively disadvantaged in some aspects, such as poor heat resistance and chemical stability, they have clear advantages. Optical plastics are lightweight and have strong impact resistance. Their relative density is only half that of glass, and their manufacturing and processing costs are far lower than 1/10 to 1/30 of optical glass. The impact resistance of optical plastic lenses is about 10 times that of glass, making it an ideal choice for scenarios that require high device weight and safety. In addition, optical plastics have good shape adaptability and can flexibly prepare complex shapes such as aspheric lenses, providing more possibilities for optical system design.

However, optical plastics also have some limitations. It has relatively low heat resistance and may soften or deform in high temperature environments. The surface has relatively poor abrasion and chemical resistance and may require additional protective measures. In contrast, optical glass has higher heat resistance, better wear resistance and chemical stability.

In practical applications, optical system designers need to choose optical plastics or optical glasses according to specific needs, or use them in clever combinations to achieve the best performance balance. For high-demand application scenarios, optical glass may be preferred, while in applications that emphasize lightweight and cost, optical plastics appear to be more competitive.

source:nonicustomoptics.com