In recent years, no art exhibition in the section of glassware or jewelry made of gold and silver is complete without works of art and jewelry masterpieces, the creation of which the masters used dichroic glass. There is something magical in this combination of words, as in the material itself.
The names of the oldest material and modern, progressive technology are combined together. Dichroic glass - what is it? By what means did man manage to achieve such truly natural originality of man-made material? We will try to answer these questions.
Glass magic
The first vases, bowls, jugs and other glassware were more expensive than gold. The historical roots of this material must be sought in ancient Rome. The art of mosaic masters, glass carvers, glassblowers from both ancient and modern Italy amazes, bewitches and amazes. Since the end of the fifteenth century, the secrets of Venetian glassmakers fall into the countries of Europe. English, Spanish, Czech, German, French masters tried to reach the level of teachers from the island of Murano in clean glass and technique. There were successes, but nobody succeeded in surpassing the Venetians. Dichroic glass is already a modern product of the latest achievements in the production of ancient material. High-tech, but this is not without romance in the case of falling into the hands of real artists.
Two colors in nature
Dichroic surfaces can change color. Their prototypes were obtained from the masters of the era of the Venetian glass Renaissance. In general, “dichroism” is an optical phenomenon. The literal translation of the term from the Greek language is “di” - two and “hroz” - color, that is, “two colors”. There are substances and materials that can reflect waves of one length, and transmit another. Outwardly, it looks like an overflow, flicker when viewing them from different angles of view.
Everyone saw how cat's eyes shine, how the feathers on the peacock's tail and the wings of large May beetles shimmer in blue or green. A classic example of dichroism is the color of the tropical butterfly Margot. She is called a piece of heaven on earth - she has such an unusually deep blue color. And the amazing thing is that the wings themselves are colorless. Color change does not occur due to pigmentation, but due to the optical properties of nanodisperses of various shapes in the smallest hairs covering the surface of the wings of the beauty. The same properties of the thinnest layers of calcium carbonate covering the pearl make it pearly. Nature provides many examples. Human genius and technological progress have made it possible to create artificial material with similar properties.
For what, from what
The original customer for the unique nanocoating for optical glass was the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dichroic filters, prisms, mirrors are widely used in the military and aerospace industries. These filters work like specialized mirrors, reflecting the light of an uninteresting spectrum. The thickness of the multilayer coating on them is not more than the wavelength of light. Nanofilm layers are made from oxides or nitrides of precious and semiprecious metals. Compounds of aluminum, chromium, silicon, zirconium, magnesium, titanium, gold, silver are used. Each spraying is unique and inimitable. This is what prompted people of peaceful creative professions - artists, designers, decorators, jewelers - to use the capabilities of this unique material in all respects in their works.
The most widespread is the manufacture of dichroic glass souvenirs and exquisite jewelry. Materials and especially the work of spraying dichroics is a very expensive pleasure, and therefore the price of artwork is cost-effective.
Dichroic spraying
The technology for applying the dichroic layer is unique. The principle is similar to the operation of a plasma monitor. In a chamber of a special installation resembling a hadron collider heated to two hundred degrees, a vacuum is created. Under such conditions, plasma appears on the surface of metal compounds. An electron gun knocks electrons out of it, which settle on a glass surface. The coating is fused to the glass at the atomic level and is therefore very durable. In this way, using various compounds of the above metals, it was possible to obtain several hundred shades of light filters.
To further increase the variety allowed the use as a basis for spraying glass of different colors.
Why glass
Glass as a basis is not chosen randomly. It is an amorphous transparent material. Glass melt cools quickly, not having time to crystallize. The main component for the manufacture of glass is silicon dioxide. Production technology and various additives determine such characteristics as impact resistance, hardening, heat resistance, resistance to water and chemicals and so on. For the application of dichroic spraying, solid borosilicate glass having a high melting point is used. The result of color, luminescence, and iridescence depends on the properties of glass, a combination of metal oxides, the thickness and the number of deposition nanolayers.
Opportunities for imagination
Masters of fusing and lampwork have long appreciated the virtues of man-made material, not inferior in beauty to precious and rare stones. It is impossible to create dichroic glass with your own hands without special equipment. Now this does not need to be done. In specialized markets there is a wide range of dichroics in the form of whole sheets or less expensive scrap. To create souvenirs, mosaics from different glass, you need to take into account their compatibility with the temperature coefficient of expansion. This technological indicator of glass must be indicated by the manufacturer. It is important that the ESR is the same for different components, so that the work of pieces and inclusions during cooling does not fall apart and does not crack. For craftsmen, creators of jewelry with their own hands, online stores offer dichroic glass in the form of beads and cabochons. Dichroic beads are oval, round, oblong. Cabochons - in the form of different sizes of geometric shapes, drops, stars and various bizarre shapes.
In all this variety of forms, an even wider variety of content has frozen.