The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 1985
Filed:
Jan. 28, 1982
Ricardo C Pastor, Manhattan Beach, CA (US);
Remedios K Chew, Long Beach, CA (US);
Hughes Aircraft Company, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
The specification discloses a process for the preparation of ultrapure thorium fluoride (ThF.sub.4) having minimized water content and consequent maximized optical transmission of 10.6 micrometer radiation. First, thorium oxide is reacted with aqueous hydrofluoric acid to form a solid reaction product, which is then dried under controlled heating to form a hydrated thorium fluoride with a predetermined amount of hydration, namely ThF.sub.4.xH.sub.2 O where x is equal to 0.39. The hydrated thorium fluoride is exposed to a reactive atmosphere of hydrofluoric acid vapor and a selected fluoride compound in the gas phase at elevated temperature for a predetermined period of time. The reactive atmosphere removes substantially all of the water and water-derived impurities from the hydrated thorium fluoride to produce ultrapure thorium fluoride which is highly transmissive to 10.6 micrometer radiation.