Precision glass molding is a lens making process in which glass blank is softened by heating and then pressed to shape in a specialized molding machine. Compared to the mechanical grinding and polishing process, PGM can significantly improve the production efficiency and lower the cost, especially for complex lens geometries such as aspheres.

Optical molds are a key element for PGM and are commonly made of cemented carbide. STC Materials produces binderless tungsten carbide optics molds with higher hardness, wear resistance, and better oxidation resistance at high temperatures compared to cemented carbide, resulting in a longer service life. Because binderless WC does not contain a metal binder like cobalt, the problem of lens contamination caused by metal diffusion at high temperature can be avoided. In addition, our binderless tungsten carbide has undergone high pressure annealing and thus eliminates the porosity and can achieve surface roughness of Ra <5nm by diamond turning process.