4 ms·
Generally these metal-glass joints use a sealant that also acts as an expansion joint. The California Academy of Sciences (that building with the grass on the r
by hadlock 8y ago
Generally these metal-glass joints use a sealant that also acts as an expansion joint. The California Academy of Sciences (that building with the grass on the roof with the circular windows) has a rainforest sphere made out of 8x8 foot panels, if you inspect the joints they are sealed with 1" of silicone caulking to account for different rates of expansion of the glass in four directions. This silicone caulking is almost the consistency of chewing gum.
Without that expansion joint, directly welded together, I'm curious how say, a Pixel 3 with the screen welded to the metal case would do. I can imagine a situation where the case and screen expand differently and end up cracking the screen.
- MertsA 8y agoNo, there are special alloys and techniques for directly bonding metal to glass. In a lot of cases the approach is to keep the bonded area close together to minimize the distortion of the metal from the different expansion rates. Materials like Kovar are designed such that it very closely matches the expansion curve of glass so that it forms a hermetic seal without any kind of sealant between the glass and the metal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kovar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kovar
- Ma8ee 8y agoNot in Ultra High Vacuum systems. There's no surface on the inside except glass or metall that can be outgased for some time at high temperature. Since we need to heat the system to speed up the outgasing process, the expansion coefficients for the joints between metall and glass must be very closely matched.