Nazetaro's Room

Aspheric Lenses - How issues were solved -

• Matt
  So, how have you solved the issues?
• Naze Taro
  As we talked in the previous lesson, since glass melt in a very high temperature (1200-1400°C, 2192-2552°F), mold die could be damaged easily. What do you think is the solution to this?
• Matt
  Umm, I would say… if glass melting temperature be lowered, molding die could be less damaged by the heat.
• Naze Taro
  Correct! Low temperatre molding processes help to lenghten the operating lifetime of the mold material. Also, that makes mold less expensive and easier to manufacture.
• Matt
  Yay! So, is it easy to create glass that melt in lower temperature?
• Naze Taro
  No, it wasn’t. As we talked in the 3rd lesson, choosing and blending glass materials to meet certain requirement is very difficult. However, since we all recognize the need for glass that melt in low temperature, glass and molding technology have been developed in the past years worldwide.
• Matt
  Worldwide!
• Naze Taro
  SUMITA is also working for it, and we made it. SUMITA became a world pioneer to overcome the restrictions.
• Matt
  That’s awesome!
• Naze Taro
  That is “Vidron”, a glass that melt in 375°C (707°F), released in 2001. Next year, in 2002, SUMITA released “Super Vidron”, glass that melt in much lower temperature, 325℃ (617°F).
• Matt
  Great. That’s how you solved the problem in making asperic lens!
• Naze Taro
  Yes. In addition, SUMITA developed a molding machine which enables mass production of aspheric lenses. Manufacturing of aspheric lens first became possible with the uniting of SUMITA’s molding and glass materials development technology.
• Matt
  Are there any chances that my camera has aspheric lenses made by SUMITA?
• Naze Taro
  The chances are very high. SUMITA’s lenses are also used as camera lenses in mobile phones, so you may find SUMITA’s products around you easily.
• Matt
  Thank you for interesting lessons!
• Naze Taro
  My pleasure, Matt.

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