| 摘要 |
There are provided tube-shaped glass monolith fabricating apparatus and method using a sol-gel process. In the tube-shaped glass monolith fabricating method using a tube-shaped glass monolith fabricating apparatus which has an upper mold including cylindrical portions of different sizes, a lower mold including a first lower cylindrical portion inclined toward the center thereof by a predetermined degree and a second lower cylindrical portion having a vacuum releasing hole, a cylindrical central mold for forming a tube-shaped glass, and a rod-shaped rod, the lower mold, the central mold, and the rod are assembled and a sol is poured in the central mold. Then, an unmixable liquid is poured on the sol, and the upper mold is assembled to the central mold. The sol is gelled in the central mold, the upper mold is removed, a cap is opened to release vacuum, and the rod is removed. A small amount of the unmixable liquid remains in a gel hole formed in the center of the gel and the vacuum releasing hole is plugged with the cap. An upper portion of the gel hole is sealed with a sealing paper. Subsequently, the gel is dried for a predetermined time, the central mold is removed from the gel, and the gel is dried until the gel completely shrinks. Finally, the sealing paper and the unmixable liquid are removed from the gel. Thus, a tube-shaped dried gel is formed.
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