New frit glasses for displays

A low firing temperature and absence of environmentally unfriendly components are not only key issues in the development of new sealing frits for cathode ray tubes (CRTs), but also for the frit materials that are applied in their successor, the plasma display panel (PDP). By adjusting the composition of the standard CRT frit, its sealing temperature can be reduced from 450 to 390 °C. while the first mentioned temperature can be maintained with a lead-free composition if a zinc tin phosphate base glass is chosen. However, in both frits no crystallization is observed (within a reasonable period of time), although this is generally considered as a requirement for a mechanically strong seal. In the PDP a decrease of the firing temperature would especially be interesting for the dielectric frit glass since this would enable application of common soda-lime-silica instead of high-strain point substrate glass. On the other hand, when the barrier ribs on the back plate are structured by powder blasting, a lead-free composition of the corresponding frit is favourable.