ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 3, 2007

CONTACT:
Douglas A. Haith, Ph.D.
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Phone: 607-255-2802
Fax: 607-255-4080
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ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A New Family of Lead-Free Optical Glasses
Chemistry of Materials

With environmental regulations forbidding the use of lead in consumer products, scientists in Canada have developed, synthesized and tested a new family of special optical glasses that contain no lead but perform like traditional lead-based optical glass.

J. W. Zwanziger and colleagues set out to understand origins of the so-called "zero-stress optic response," which underpins the properties of glasses used in rear-projection televisions, liquid crystal on silicon projection systems, optical research equipment and other products. In a report scheduled for the Jan. 23 issue of ACS' Chemistry of Materials, a bi-weekly journal, they describe finding a simple rule for choosing the composition of glass to minimize the stress optic response. The rule predicted the existence of previously unknown optic glasses.

The researchers then synthesized a variety of alternatives to lead-based glass, producing a new family of lead-free, zero-stress glasses with optical properties like traditional lead-based glasses.

ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Zero-Stress Optic Glass Without Lead"

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CONTACT:
J. W. Zwanziger, Ph.D.
Dalhousie University
Halifax, N.S., Canada
Phone: 902-494-1960
Fax: 902-494-1867
Email: