Influence of the Cooling Rate of Silica Glass on Its Surface Relief

Abstract

The method of atomic force microscopy explores a roughness of a surface of the silica glass cooled with different velocity from temperature 2300 °C. It is compared two modes of cooling of a glass rods with a diameter of 16mm: convective heat exchange with the surrounding air and quenching with dropping the sample into a vessel with water. The roughness of a surface of a silica glass in the second mode of cooling was essentially less that can promote magnification of its strength. The results of these studies may turn out to be promising in terms of increasing the strength and reliability of silica optical fibers used in laser surgery.