As is known to all, the countries that are in a leading position in the technology for optical glass production include Germany, the United States and Japan, as shown by the name brands of SCHOTT and Zeiss of Germany, Conring of the United States, Ohara and Hoya of Japan. However, the leading manufacturer and seller of the global optical glass materials industry is a Chinese company, which produces and sells over 8,000 tons of optical glass each year, accounting for over 30% of the world market.
Optical glass has an even higher concentration degree in the international spectacle manufacturing industry and a small number of leading brands occupy most of the market shares. Essilor International Optical Group of France leads the industry as the largest lens manufacturer of the world, with other international lens manufacturing enterprises high on the list holding 80% of the market shares. Because of their deficiencies in brand operation, Chinese enterprises of optical glass lenses have not yet gained a market reputation that match their actual position in the industry.
As one of the shareholders of the top optical glass enterprises of China, the investor of Sunphey is also a Chinese supplier of glass lenses for world famous sunglass brands and took part in the R&D and customization of high-performance glass for the lenses of sunglasses. Our researchers are now still making ongoing efforts at further researches to develop such high-performance glass materials through more advanced technology, better processes and more reasonable cost. We use the production system, technology and processes for manufacturing such high-performance glass blanks in cooperating with other top Chinese optical glass enterprises to further use the blanks in the production of ophthalmic lenses and sunglass products. Meanwhile, we also use such materials in the production of precise optical lenses, winning recognition and praises from our customers around the world.
Sunphey is a leader of China in the production of the high-performance optical glass lenses for sunscreen sunglasses. Our high-performance glass lenses of ultra thinness can correct the abnormal refraction of human eyes, improve eyesight, prevent ultraviolet and low dispersion of high refractivity, change color. We can aso customize glass lense products and design lightweight products as required by customers.
This is the consensus of ophthalmologists: glass lense is the best phthalmological material and performs excellently in clarity, optical stability and durability. But, people have misconception about glass lenses, e.g. the misunderstanding that glass lenses are heavy. This problem, however, has been improved greatly with technological progress. In particular, glass lenses are thinner and equivalent in weight in the range of 1.8 ~ 1.9 refractivity that is out of reach for resin lenses. People’s correct ophthalmic needs have been suppressed by large-scale industrialized mode and the drive of commercial interests. Sunphey firmly believes that, in the future, their demand for glass lenses will be valued again. This is also one of the reasons for our persistent production of the high-performance glass lenses for sunglasses.
Manufacturing of high-performance glass lenses for sunglasses
In the numerous and complex factors that affect the quality of sunglasses, the compounding of raw materials is a major one and requires strict control. The quality of Sunphey lenses starts from the production of glass substrate, which adopts the most advanced continuous melting and shaping technology of the world. The technology features less processes, a high degree of automation and a high rate of finished products. The main processes are as follows:
Mixing of materials:
According to its optical characteristics, optical glass can be divided into about 230 types. In the production of optical glass, about 70 kinds of raw materials are used. Generally, the production of one type of optical glass necessitates the mixing of tens or hundreds of kilograms of 5~15 kinds of raw materials of high purity, including silica, boric acid, lanthana, cerium oxide, columbium oxide, zirconium oxide, barium and potassium. Any minimum error at the time of weighing will cause changes to the refractivity and nature. Therefore, a scale of 1/10000 precision is used in the weighing of a formula. After being weighed according to the formula, the raw materials are mixed evenly in a blender.
Smelting:
The process of smelting includes 4 processes: melting, clarification, adjustment & homogenization, distribution.
(1) A tank furnace is heated with electric power (or natural gas or coal gas) to melt natural materials at 1400℃ ~ 1500℃ for formation of glass mixture in viscous state;
(2) Clarification: Raw materials will general massive air bubbles after melting and must receive debubbling treatment.The rising speed of bubbles is inversely proportional to the viscosity of glass liquid, while the viscosity is inversely proportional to temperature. Therefore, temperature is raised to lower viscosity to speed up debubbling;
(3) Adjustment and homogenization: Adjustment means the lowering of temperature to increase the viscosity of glass liquid so that it can meet the viscosity requirement for shaping; homogenization means the adequate blending in the adjustment and homogenization pool of the glass liquid of high temperature, low viscosity and uneven material quality in the clarification pool so that the quality is even and can meet the requirement for optical quality. The lowering of temperature takes place concurrently with blending during adjustment and homogenization;
(4) Distribution of glass liquid: The platinum feed pipe accurately the temperature of glass liquid to adjust viscosity and flow, which then flows out and is cut onto the material drops of required weight by scissors of special steel;
(5) Automatic profiling: The drops of glass liquid having the right viscosity and required weight are infused into the cavity of dies to be pressed into lens blanks by the automatic moulding press;
(6) Annealing: After the pressing, a removal device is used to take the lens blank out of the mould and feed it into a mesh belt annealing furnace. The lens blank is heated again to the annealing temperature, which is kept for a period of time before being lowered at a controlled speed to eliminate the inner stress;
(7) Monitoring: After its inner stress is eliminated through annealing, the lens blank will receive inspection of logistic characteristics and appearance quality to weed out any rejects. The items to be monitored include: refractivity, Abbe number, inner stress, stripes, bubbles, diameter, curvity, central thickness, edge thickness.
Processing of blanks
In batch production, moulded blanks are used for processing to reduce grinding workload. Generally, the convex mirror degree of the blanks is close to the processing mirror degree, while the concave mirror degree of the blanks is smaller than the processing mirror degree.
Grinding and polishing
The transformation of the optical glass raw materials from “blanks” to lenses is the first step in the production of glass lenses. A milling machine tool is used first for single-piece grinding so that the surface of the lens being processed can reach a certain radius of curvature and surface roughness. There is an intersection angle of α between the axis of the diamond grinding wheel and the axis of the working shaft of the lens, which intersect at the point of 0 and rotate separately around the axises. The two movements combine to get the radius of the spheric curvature necessary for lenses through grinding. To change the spheric diopter, it is only necessary to adjust the intersection angle into that of the diamond mould to gradually obtain the sphere of a lens. Then, the lenses are polished to get the finish of high quality.
Centering and edging
The optical axis of a lens must be kept parallel to the sight line. To achieve the coaxality of optical axis and sight line through positioning, centering and edging must be implemented for a lens to reduce or remove its central eccentricity. After the centering, diamond mould and grinding liquid are typically used to grind it to the excircle dimensions and precision required by design. The parameters of the grinding wheel and lens, e.g. linear speed feed, are selected on the basis of factors like diameter and glass hardness. As a part of the same process, we reduce the difficulty of our customers in assembling spectacle frames and inserting lenses through and appropriately cut oblique angle and the edge chamfer of lenses to ensure stability and ensure a perfect match between lens edge and the frame.
Hardening process
The fragility of glass lenses is a problem that customers are concerned about. The glass lenses of Sunphey use special chemical and physical hardening processes and have passed the drop ball test. This means that fragility may not become a barrier that prevents glass lenses from finding favor with the public. In fact, we have so far received no reported medical case about the harm caused to the eye by a broken glass lens.
Ultrasonic cleaning
Coating poses extremely strict requirement for lens cleanness. Therefore, the cleaning process before film coating is very important. Sunphey clears away the handprint, dust and processing media attachment from earlier processing by using the cavitation effect of the huge cavity bubble of approximate vacuum created by the ultrasonic field, which causes a series of physical and chemical changes to the substances under the support of the washing media.
Optical coating
Coating can be said to be an important process in the production of sunglass lenses. The coating of lenses can filter or intercept blaze and reduce dazzling light, thus reducing the amount of visible light that can reach the eyes and achieving better optical performance and higher clarity. In all kinds of materials that are coated, glass alone can withstand high temperature (350°-400°C) and high vacuum. This is necessary for excellent adhesion. Glass is the only base material that can ensure perfect agglutination between oxide and glass without deformation or damage to provide the same long life for the coating attached to the glass within the service life of the product. We can apply all kinds of layers in a composite coating to obtain various color changes or functions, e.g. hydrophobic and oleophobic coating. The unique coating we have developed causes the lens surface to be smooth and prevent water drops from sticking onto the lens surface. It can provide reliable protection even in extremely wet environment or on rainy or snowy days. More importantly, in everyday use, it can prevent most dusts and impurities from sticking onto the lenses and make it possible to use a cloth to quickly clean the surface and restore the original state of cleanness of the lenses.
Matching of frames
To ensure the best matching effect for the frames of customers, we provide lenses that can accurately match the frames through cutting. For the frames of classical models that have been licensed to us or do not involve a patent, we have the processes for the large-scale production of lenses to make sure that our customers can insert the lenses into the frames correctly. For customized new products, we ask the customers to provide precise frames or samples. Then, our technicians will decide on the dimensions and shape of the most appropriate frames. The lenses we provide can match the frames excellently.
Logos and marks
On the customized lenses can be printed a logo or design that does not involve any patent.
- Printing
- Quart sandblasting
- Laser marking
- Fog display marking
- Ion marking
We can print unique mark on your lenses. An anti-fake mark can use laser carving or fog display carving (a mark that is displayed only when the lens is blown upon). We can also create a unique mark of fashion for your lenses through marking. Such marks can be large or small and will not interfere with the normal vision of a user through our unique technology.
Sunphey intensifies the merits of glass lenses.
Excellent optical performance:
If you are looking for a pair of HD sunglasses, the glass lenses of Sunphey are your best choice. Our glass lenses normally generate a low chromatic dispersion and, therefore, have a good optical imaging. Glass will not deform in processing and have heat resistance and a high optical quality. Glass lenses have the highest clarity in all lenses and provide an excellent visual experience.
Low pricing:
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. The prices of glass lenses in the market are generally higher than those of other lenses. If you have a limited budget, you may want to choose the sunglasses that do not use glass lenses. However, the glass lenses of Sunphey sunglasses have lowered product cost by using new technology and new processes. Additionally, since we are OEM and ODM, we have no further brand premium and are your ideal choice.
Protection against ultraviolet:
Normally, people need strong protection against ultraviolet under extreme conditions and generally use yellowish lenses. The lenses of Sunphey use anti-UV technology to fully block up the ultraviolet rays of less than 380nm, effectively ward off the ultraviolet harmful for human eyes, protect eyes, delay the occurrence of eye diseases, e.g. cataract and macular degeneration, and bring a visual experience that is more healthful. All our spectacles can provide sufficient protection against ultraviolet in everyday use for additional protection of your eyes! Our UV coating can protect you from the harm caused by 100％ UVA and UVB rays.
Stability
The lenses that are not glass are easy to trigger the deformation resulting from expansion or contraction and become turbid and yellowish when placed in an environment of high or low temperature or ultraviolet. In contract, glass lenses have a higher temperature resistance and are not easily affected by temperature. Therefore, glass lenses suit you better if you are accustomed to keeping your sunglasses in your car or in the sun. Glass lenses will maintain a high transparency and stay in shape even though used for long. Thoughout their entire life, the lenses will maintain their stable physical and chemical characteristics and resist the erosion of daily chemicals. They will not get yellowish with the lapse of time. When other lenses become functionally tired, faded, scratched or worn, glass lenses still perform as if they were new. Meanwhile, they can combine excellently with paint.
Resistance against fall and scratch
If you are looking for a pair of spectacles of stronger resistance against fall, you can choose plastic lenses. Compared with plastic lenses, untreated ordinary glass lenses are easier to break in a fall. Of course, this is not absolute. The glass lenses of Sunphey have been specially processed and addressed the problem of fragility.
But, the weak anti-scraping performance of plastic lenses will cause imperceptible traces to be left on the lenses after scraping against hard objects, which will affect visual health after long use.
Undoubtedly, glass is more resistant against scratch than any other lens materials. The scratch resistance of the plastic lenses with or without coating is even worse than that of glass lenses. If you want to enhance the scratch resistance of glass lenses, you can also add a scratch proof film to the lenses.
Thinner glass lenses
Although the weight of a pair of glass sunglasses will not overwhelm you, they are indeed somewhat heavier than plastic lenses. Glass lenses provide the highest refractivity and are thinner and more good-looking in all multiples, with a refractivity of 1.5-1.9. Plastic lenses are impossible to have a refractivity of >1.74. In this section, glass lenses are thinner, but equivalent in weight. However, don’t we want to place our eyes under protection? Is it true that you cannot bear the pressure on your nose, but can bear the long-term invisible harm to your eyes caused by the instability, deformation and poor permeability of the lenses not made with glass?
Quality natural raw materials
Compared with ordinary optical glass, the optical glass containing rare earth ingredients has a high effect on optical characteristics, as can be seen from its high permeability, high refractivity, an optical nature of low color dispersion and stable chemical performance. The oxide mixture that makes up glass is melted and refined through rare earth to obtain quality optical glass. The rare earth ingredients can enable better color restoration and contrast. China happens to be the country with the largest reserve and best technology for such quality natural raw materials of rare earth.