Abstract: The effects of ZrO₂ on the structure and performance of the microchannel plate lead silicon glass were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), thermal expansion coefficient and Vickers hardness. The results show that the lead silicon glass for nondevitrification microchannel plate is prepared by adding ZrO₂ within 8% (mass fraction, the same below). With the increase of ZrO₂ content, the vibration intensity of bridging oxygen bonds in glass increases first and then decreases, and the corresponding thermal expansion coefficient decreases first and then increases. When the content of ZrO₂ is 2%, the content of bridge oxygen in the glass reaches the maximum, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the corresponding glass is 80.5×10^-7 ℃^-1. At this time, the ion bombardment resistance of the microchannel plate is 33% higher than that of the normal microchannel plate. Vickers hardness of glass increases with the increase of ZrO₂ content. When the content of ZrO₂ is lower than 5%, the change of Vickers hardness is more obvious. When the content of ZrO₂ is 8%, the maximum Vickers hardness of glass is 5.1 GPa.

Key words: ZrO₂, microchannel plate, bond strength, thermal expansion coefficient, Vickers hardness