the.com/kovar
the alloy that expands exactly like glass, so the seal between them never cracks.
means Kovar is a nickel-cobalt-iron alloy engineered so its thermal expansion closely matches that of certain glasses and ceramics, letting it form a reliable, leak-tight seal when bonded to them.
from The name is a trademark, coined in the United States by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, who developed the alloy in the 1930s for vacuum-tube and electronic seals. "Kovar" appears to be a fanciful coinage rather than a word with deep roots — though it sits suggestively close to "covar," hinting at the way the metal and glass "co-vary" together as they heat and cool, the very property that keeps the seal intact.
- composition
- iron, nickel, cobalt and almost nothing else
- glass twin
- shrinks at glass's pace when cooling
- space ready
- seals electronics for satellites and vacuum tubes
- named for
- its inventor at Westinghouse, the Kovar man
- hermetic hero
- keeps moisture out of sensitive sensors forever