Synthesis of SiO2 glass fibres from Si(OC2H5)4-H2O-C2H5OH-HCl solutions through sol-gel method

Various factors affecting the spinnability of the Si(OC₂H₅)₄-H₂O-C₂H₅OH-HCl solutions have been investigated in order to find appropriate experimental conditions for making gel-derived SiO₂ glass fibres. The molar ratios of H₂O, C₂H₅OH and HCl to Si(OC₂H₅)₄ were changed in the range from 0.5 to 10.0, 0.5 to 7.0 and 0.001 to 0.1, respectively. The solutions were reacted at 30 and 80° C. It has been reconfirmed that the most important factor determining the spinnability of the solution in the course of the hydrolysis reaction is the molar ratio of water to Si(OC₂H₅)₄ in the solution. The rise of the reaction temperature led to the remarkable shortening of the time required for drawing fibres. The increase of the amount of HCl decreased the upper limit of the H₂O/Si(OC₂H₅)₄ molar ratio range where the spinnability is found as well as reaction temperature. The solutions with a H₂O/Si(OC₂H₅)₄ ratio larger than 2.0 gave often fibres having a circular cross-section, while other solutions gave fibres with a non-circular one. The tensile strength of the gel-derived SiO₂ glass fibres was also reported.