Precision glass molding of complex shaped chalcogenide glass lenses for IR applications

The use of chalcogenide glass in the thermal infrared domain is an emerging alternative to commonly used crystalline materials such as germanium. The main advantage of chalcogenide glass is the possibility of mass production of complex shaped geometries with replicative processes such as precision glass molding. Thus costly single point diamond turning processes are shifted to mold manufacturing and do not have to be applied to every single lens produced. The usage of FEM-Simulation is mandatory for developing a molding process for complex e.g. non rotational symmetric chalcogenide glass lenses in order to predict the flow of glass. This talk will present state of the art modelling of the precision glass molding process for chalcogenide glass lenses, based on thermal- and mechanical models. Input data for modelling are a set of material properties of the specific chalcogenide glass in conjunction with properties of mold material and wear protective coatings. Specific properties for the mold-glass interaction such as stress relaxation or friction at the glassmold interface cannot be obtained from datasheets and must be determined experimentally. A qualified model is a powerful tool to optimize mold and preform designs in advance in order to achieve sufficient mold filling and compensate for glass shrinkage. Application of these models in an FEM-Simulation "case study" for molding a complex shaped non-rotational symmetric lens is shown. The outlook will examine relevant issues for modelling the precision glass molding process of chalcogenide glasses in order to realize scaled up production in terms of multi cavity- and wafer level molding.