● Quartz
Quartz ,or Silica (SiO2) is a hard mineral which, not having any cleavage planes, does not fracture easily. Quartz is found in many types of rocks. Granites, shown below, are common plutonic rocks that have a high quartz content. The quartz minerals are, in the rocks shown at left and below, clear to white. The rocks in the background of the image below are polished, showing the minerals of the rock in cross section, whereas the outlined, inset box shows rocks as they were found, both rounded and angular.
   All rocks are subject to weathering - besides plutonic rocks there are also sedimentary, volcanic and metamorphic (altered by heat and/or pressure) rocks. Some sedimentary rocks in particular, such as sandstone, shown below, have a large amount of quartz sand alreadu incorporated into them. They act as a ready source of sand, easily eroded quartz grains that have already been separated from their original mineral matrix. Grains from these rocks may be rough or already smooth, depending on the conditions in which they were originally formed.
● Fused Quartz
Fused quartz is ultra pure, single component glasses (SiO2) with a unique combination of thermal, optical and mechanical properties, which make them the preferred materials for use in a variety of processes and applications where other materials are not suitable.
The very high purity (over 99.9% ) ensures minimum contamination in process applications.These materials can routinely withstand temperatures of over 1250oC, and due to their very low coefficient of thermal expansion can be rapidly heated and cooled with virtually no risk of breakage due to thermal shock.Fused Quartz are inert to most substances, including virtually all acids, allowing their use in arduous and hostile environments.The dielectric properties and very high electrical receptivity of these materials over a wide range of temperatures, together with their low thermal conductivity allow their use as an electrical and thermal insulating material in a range of environments.
Fused Quartz is manufactured using powdered quartz crystal as a feedstock and is normally transparent, the fusion process is carried out at high temperature (over 2000oC) .
● Chemical Analysis