For Quotations Contact:

Surmet Corporation
33 B Street
Burlington, MA 01803
sales@surmet.com
781-272-3969 phone
781-272-4521 fax

TECHNICAL DATA ALON™ OPTICAL CERAMIC

ALONTM Optical Ceramic is an extremely durable
crystalline material with excellent optical
transparency in the near ultraviolet, visible and
infrared up to approximately 5 Pm wavelength.

ALONTM Optical Ceramic is fabricated using a

proprietary powder processing technique. The
material combines mechanical and optical properties
similar to sapphire with the advantages of an
isotropic cubic crystal structure. It has an
approximate composition of Al23O27N5.

ALONTM Optical Ceramic can be made to order as

windows, domes, plates, rods and tubes in a wide
range of sizes and thicknesses by a variety of
conventional ceramic forming methods such as
injection molding, isostatic pressing and slipcasting.

TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF ALON™ OPTICAL CERAMIC

Composition…………… Al23-1/3XO27+XN5-X 100
(0.429<X<2) 2 mm thick sample

Grain Size (typical)….... 150-250 microns

Structure……………….. Cubic, Spinel 80
Lattice Constant……….. 7.956A – 7.936A
Density………………… 3.696 – 3.691 g/cc
Form…………………… Polycrystalline 60
Melting Point…………. 2150oC
Young’s Modulus…….. 46.9x106 psi
Shear Modulus………. 18.9x106 psi 40

Poisson’s Ratio………. 0.24

Hardness……………… 1850 Kg/mm2
(Knoop Indentation, 200g load) 20
Fracture Toughness…….. 2.0 MPa-m1/2
Flexure Strength………… 55,000 psi
Specific Heat……………. 0.22 cal/g-oC 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Thermal Conductivity (cal/cm-s-oC)
Wavelength (microns)
75oC………. 0.023
270oC……… 0.017 Infrared
540oC………. 0.015 Index of Refraction Absorption Coefficient
830oC………. 0.017 O(Pm) n O(Pm) D (cm-1)
Transmission Limits 0.22 to 6 microns 0.48 1.803 3.8 0.080
0.50 1.801 4.000 0.159
0.64 1.790 4.230 0.288
0.68 1.788 4.380 0.409
Thermal Expansion Coeff. Dielectric Properties 0.70 1.787 4.545 0.598
30-200oC 5.65x10-6 Freq. k tan G 1.00 1.779 4.717 0.849
30-400oC 6.40x10-6 GHz) (x10-5) 2.00 1.761 4.902 1.230
30-600oC 6.93x10-6 35-45 9.190 31 3.00 1.737 5.000 1.598
o
30-900 C 7.50x10-6 55-60 90181 67 4.00 1.702 5.102 2.000
90-110 9.175 96 5.00 1.653 5.319 5.230
5.550 8.060
5.814 11.030
 TM
ALON Optical Ceramic
Comparison To Window Materials
Property ALONTM Fused Sapphire Spinel Magnesia Zinc Yttria
Optical Silica Sulfide
Ceramic

Composition Al23O27N5 SiO2 Al2O3 MgAl2O4 MgO ZnS Y2O3

Density 3.7 2.5 3.98 3.59 3.58 4.08 5.03
(Grams/cm3)
Areal 19.23 11.44 20.68 18.61 18.55 21.20 26.14
Density
1” thickness
(lb/ft2)

Young’s 46.0 10.6 60.9 38.9 35.5 10.7 26.0

Modulus
(Msi)

Poisson’s 0.24 0.17 0.22 0.26 0.18 0.3 0.23

Ratio

Flexural 55 16.0 100 26.7 19.1 14.9 21.8

Strength
(Ksi)

Hardness 1850 460 2200 1520 640 250 720

(kg/mm2)
 TM
ALON Optical Ceramic
Comparison To Ceramics for Semiconductor Processing
Coors Alumina Coors Alumina Quartz
PROPERTIES Conditions UNITS ALON™ AD 99.5 AD99.8 Sapphire (fused silica)

Density g/cc 3.69 3.9 3.92 3.97 2.21

Grain Size Micrometers 150-250 6 6 single crystal amorphous

Color Transparent ivory ivory Transparent Transparent

Flexural Strength MPa (ksi) 379 (55) 379 (55) 552 (80) 742 (107.7) 48 (7)

2 (indentation
Fracture Toughness MPa-m^1/2 method) 3 to 4 3 to 4 2 0.8
2677 (388)
Compressive Strength 25°C MPa (ksi) (see note 1) 2600 (377) 3792 (550) 650 - 1100
2
Hardness Knoop,200 g load, 25°C) (kg/mm ) 1850 2000 2000 2000 460
6)
Elastic Modulus GPa (psi x 10 334 (48.4) 370 (53.6) 386 (55.9) 344 (49.8) 70 (10.1)
6
Shear Modulus psi x 10 135 (19.6)
Poisson's Ratio 0.239 0.23 0.23 0.27 0.16

Thermal Conductivity W/m-K (cal/cm-sec-oC) 9.5 (0.023) 37 (0.09) 33 (0.08) 36 1.6

-6
TCE (30-900°C) 10 /°C 7.5 8.2 8.4 0.45
Specific Heat (J/g-K) (Cal/g -°C)) 0.77 (0.22) 0.67 (0.19) 0.67 (0.19) 0.75 (0.21) 0.22
Thermal Shock 'T (oC) °C N/A 200 N/A 200 >1400

Transmission range (microns) 0.22-6 N/A N/A 0.2-6 0.2-4.5

Dielectric Constant 1 kHz @25ºC

1 MHz 9.6 9.3-11.4 3.8
3.044 GHz 9.1
1GHz 9.19

Dissipation Factor (x10-5) 1 kHz @25ºC

1 MHz
3.044 GHz 31.4
1GHz 31 20

Note:1 ASTM C773-88