Abstract
Glass-ceramics possessed a number of characteristics which suggested their suggested their use for sealing to metals. The choice of particular glass-ceramics compositions for this application is governed by various factors, including workability of the glasses, thermal expansion characteristics and the matching of these to appropriate metals. Other properties, such as mechanical strength, determined the performance of glass-ceramics to metal seals. The purpose of the present study was to investigate direct sealing behaviour of copper to $Li_2O-ZnO-SiO_2$ system glass-ceramics. The design of the seal was a concentric seal which might contribute to the strong bond formation by providing compressive stress during thermal excursions. Tensile strengths of sealing layers were measured by Instron test machine. The layers were examined by electron probe microanalyzer. Crsystallization rate was increased with the amount of ZnO or $Li_2O$, and ZnO increased the sealing strength, but $Li_2O$ lowered it. Sealing mechanism was due to the formation of metal oxides, which acted as binder between copper and glass-ceramics. The nickle-plated copper seal with 10% $Li_2O$ and 30% ZnO was the most strong seal, and its sealing strength was more than 56kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$.