Mechanical properties of microstructurable glasses

Abstract

Microstructurable glasses of the system Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 are objects of research at the Ilmenau Technical University, Department of Glass- and Ceramics Technology. These glasses also contain alkali oxides and dopants. The dopants are important for the microstructuring. Main directions of research are: the special glass materials, structuring technologies, joining processes and applications. The glasses can be structured with a photolithographic process. This process consists of the following steps: UV exposure, thermal treatment and etching. Using this standard process and variations it is possible to make through structures (e.g. holes), structures with a defined depth, structures with various depths and three-dimensional structures without undercut. Different glass sheets can be joined with a thermal process. Depending on the thermal expansion coefficient glass/metal compounds may be realized by microelectroplating. Deformable structures are very important for applications in the field of measurements and sensors, microgripping technique and microactuators. It is thus necessary to characterize the mechanical properties of these glass structures.