The excellent durability of Sunphey lenses is largely attributable to the platinum glass process. When the glass changes from powder to liquid state, the liquid glass will pass through a pipe lined with platinum to eliminate any impurity and all defects and inconsistencies that may exist. (Platinum can prevent the leaching from the lining of other devices.) Despite the high price, the use of such innovative technology has proven the commitment of Sunphey to quality.
After repeated cycles of abrasion test that simulates daily use, Sunphey platinum glass lenses were found to have no scratch, trace, loss of brightness, misty shadow, change in color or brightness, or pileup of water-based chemicals and residues.
Compared with ordinary spectacles, Sunphey lenses are smoother, more transparent, clearer and brighter.
How has this been achieved?
Firstly, excellent and unique raw materials of glass are adequately mixed by V-shaped agitator according to formula.
Secondly, the mixed raw materials are thrown into a platinum crucible for management of temperature and time based on the type of glass. The mixture is changed into glassy state for the first time. Then, the materials in the crucible are mixed until they are evenly agitated.
Thirdly, the raw materials that have been melted to get into glassy state cool down naturally and are then broken before their refractivity is measured. Several types of glass is again blended and melted to enable product performance to remain stable.
Fourthly, bubbles are removed from the melted and mixed broken glass, which is made into plate glass. After the glass goes through the furnace, the temperature will drop slowly. A part of the glass is sampled to measure and evaluate the physical characteristics that are extremely important for optical glass, e.g. refractivity and transmissivity, check the glass for residual bubbles and foreign matters and suppress the materials (glass block).
Fifthly, the glass block is put on refractory body to go through the furnace and heated slowly to become softened. Then, the glass block is put on a fire-resistant mold to be moved together to the press molding machine. The press-molded glass is then put into an electrothermal furnace to be heated under slowly rising temperature. Then, the temperature falls slowly to eliminate the deformation of glass and adjust the refractivity.
Finally, the press-molded products of lens shape receive appearance inspection.
In addition to the use of platinum crucible to assist the melting of raw materials, the rare earth ingredients added into the raw materials are also among the factors for the excellent performance of platinum glass. The addition of different ingredients and rare earth of different proportions can help bring out glass lenses of high refraction and low density, Toric glass lenses that absorb ultraviolet rays, colored glass lenses that protect eyes, the protective glass lenses for eye disease patients, laser protection glass lenses necessary for special work.
By relying on rich raw materials and advanced production processes, China is now an important country for the production and marketing of optical glass.