Ceramic SHaping: extrusion of glAss Preforms for new fibres in hEalthcare (SHAPE)

陶瓷成型：医疗保健用新型纤维用玻璃预制件的挤压(SHAPE)该项目的目标是在新型玻璃挤压方面取得前所未有的进展，以制造全新形状的玻璃预制件。这些预制件是拉制下一代结构玻璃纤维所必需的，用于两种目标医疗应用--用于治疗的生物植入玻璃纤维和用于癌症检测的MIR(中红外)玻璃纤维激光。玻璃挤压什么是玻璃挤压？在玻璃化转变温度(Tg)以上加热玻璃，形成粘性液体。这种液体具有糖浆般的稠度，可以通过迫使其通过成形的金属模具来成形。例如，有孔的模子会产生棒状挤出物。挤压的棒被允许冷却，并在Tg处变硬以形成玻璃棒预制件，该预制棒被带到拉伸塔，并在单独的操作中拉伸以形成直径约为人头发的玻璃纤维。通过模具上的孔，将两个玻璃成分不同但具有匹配的热性能的玻璃坯料通过模具上的孔共挤，形成具有不同玻璃内芯的玻璃棒预制件。沿着预制件的一部分长度，玻璃的内芯大约占据。直径的85%不变。当这被拉到纤维上时，纤维同样有一个巨大的玻璃芯子，占据了直径的85%。芯/包层界面具有极佳的光学质量，在挤压过程中已配对。然而，只有20%的挤压棒材预制件是可用的，因为预制件其余部分的芯子太尖了。通过蜘蛛模挤压可以生产出小孔管状的玻璃预制件。如果现在将一根由不同玻璃制成的手杖穿过这个管子，整个管子就可以被拉伸成纤维，其中有一个小芯子穿过它，占纤维直径的不到20%。这种小纤芯光纤是实现光纤激光的关键。然而，这种工艺路线使光学质量较差的核心/包层接口，并且可能需要几周时间。MIR光纤该项目将直接制造对MIR玻璃光纤激光器至关重要的高质量小芯光纤。我们将挤压芯直径小于或等于20%的小芯玻璃棒预制件，芯直径在预制棒的至少50%以上恒定，芯/包层在挤压过程中匹配，以提供优良的芯/包层界面的光学质量。为了实现这一突破，我们将第一次引用预成型玻璃坯料的挤压，以及自大约50年前发明以来一直被忽视的间接玻璃挤压。MIR光通过检测组织的分子组成来区分包括癌症在内的疾病组织。使用MIR光纤将实现一种新型的内窥镜检查，这样在癌症手术期间，外科医生可以将MIR光纤激光引导到组织上，并收集反射光来绘制组织的分子图，并立即判断是否所有癌症都已切除。紧凑型MIR光纤系统将通过使用MIR宽带和窄带光纤激光器来实现；对于这些系统，小芯MIR光纤是必不可少的，该项目将使新的挤压技术成为可能。3.生物相容、治疗纤维人体不排斥生物相容纤维。我们将挤出新型的多层和多孔生物相容性玻璃预制件，用于生物植入纤维，在体内的溶解速度得到精确控制。这是为了治疗药物和离子从身体感染部位的纤维释放，并控制溶解纤维-生物复合材料植入体内，以支持骨愈合。4.项目协同该项目将鼓励思想的交叉交流，例如，用于和平号玻璃纤维的生物兼容玻璃纤维覆层可能是有益的，使用生物兼容玻璃纤维传输近红外(近红外)光有可能实现对活体组织健康的现场监测。

Ceramic SHaping: extrusion of glAss Preforms for new fibres in hEalthcare (SHAPE)The Aim of this Project is to achieve unprecedented advances in novel glass extrusion in order to make brand new shapes of glass preforms. These preforms are needed for drawing to next-generation structured glass fibres for two targeted healthcare applications - bioimplant glass fibre for therapeutics and MIR (mid-infrared) glass fibre lasers for cancer detection.1. Glass extrusionWhat is glass extrusion? Heat glass above its glass transition temperature (Tg) and a viscous liquid forms. This liquid has treacle-like consistency and can be shaped by forcing it through a shaped metal die. For instance, a die with a hole produces a rod-shaped extrudate. The extruded rod is allowed to cool, and stiffens at Tg to form a glass-rod preform, which is taken to a draw tower and, in a separate operation, drawn to form glass fibre of the ~ diameter of a human hair. Co-extrusion, through the hole in the die, of two glass billets of different glass composition, but with matched thermal properties, forms a glass-rod preform with an internal core of different glass through it. Along part of the preform length, the internal core of glass occupies approx. constant 85 % of the diameter. When this is drawn to fibre, the fibre similarly has a large core of glass occupying 85 % of the diameter. The core/cladding interface is excellent optical quality, having mated during the extrusion itself. However, only 20% of the extruded rod preform is usable, as the core inside the rest of the preform is too tapered. Extrusion through a spider-die can produce a glass preform in the shape of a small-orificed tube. If a cane of different glass is now threaded through this tube, this whole can be drawn to fibre with a small core running through it and occupying less than ~ 20 % of the fibre diameter. Such small core fibre is vital to achieve fibre lasing. However, this processing route makes inferior optical quality core/cladding interfaces and can take several weeks.2. MIR fibreThis Project will enable straightforward manufacture of high quality small-core fibre vital for MIR-glass fibre lasers. We will extrude small-core glass-rod preforms with core less than or equal to 20 % diameter, constant over least 50 % of the preform, with core/cladding mating during extrusion to give excellent optical quality of the core/cladding interface. To achieve this breakthrough, we will invoke, for the first time, extrusion of pre-shaped glass billets, and also indirect glass extrusion - overlooked since its invention ~50 years' ago. MIR light distinguishes diseased tissue, including cancer, by detecting the molecular-makeup of the tissue. Using MIR fibre-optics will enable a new type of endoscopy so that during cancer surgery the surgeon can guide MIR fibre laser light onto the tissue and collect the reflected light to molecularly map the tissue and instantly tell if all cancer is removed. Compact MIR fibreoptic systems will be enabled by using MIR broad- and narrow-band fibre lasers; for these, small-core MIR fibre is essential and this Project will enable the new extrusion technology to make this possible. 3. Biocompatible, therapeutic fibreThe human body does not reject biocompatible fibre. We will extrude new types of multi-layered and holey biocompatible glass preforms for bioimplant fibre of finely controlled dissolution rate in the body. This is for therapeutic drug and ion release from fibre at the site of body infection and for controlled dissolution fibre-biocomposites to implant in the body to support bone-healing. 4. Project synergyThis Project will encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas, for instance a bio-compatible glass cladding for MIR glass fibres may be beneficial and using biocompatible glass fibres for NIR (near-infrared) light transmission has the potential to allow in situ monitoring of tissue health in vivo.