Abstract
A heated-stage optical microscope has been developed for in-situ crystallization observation of ZBLAN glass. Traditional crystallization studies on most materials, including ZBLAN, are completed following high temperature heat treatment. The modern heated-stage microscope developed in this study permits high temperature sample microscopy data to be collected in real time. The heated stage has a high-end temperature limit of 520 ∘C with a heating ramp rate of 2.2 ∘C/second. The stage was also fitted with liquid nitrogen for rapid cooling and sample annealing up to −190 ∘C. The stage was customized to fit a Keyence VHX-2000 digital microscope with a magnification range of 100X–1000X. The microscope also has the ability to image samples using Differential Interference Contrasts (DIC) microscopy, which is used to elucidate key crystalline features not apparent with traditional optical microscopy. Additionally, the experiment was constructed to be operated on a microgravity parabolic aircraft to study the effects of microgravity on the crystallization of ZBLAN.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mr. Shane Arabie and Mr. Ted Cera for their invaluable support in both fabrication and testing. This work wouldn’t be possible without the support of both Utah State University’s Research Fund—Space Dynamics Laboratory and the DoD’s Space Test Program.
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Torres, A., Barr, R. The Development of a Heated-Stage Optical Microscope for ZBLAN Microgravity Crystallization Studies. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 28, 367–380 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-016-9488-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-016-9488-7