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Float Glass Process Overview

The float glass process involves pouring molten glass onto a bath of molten tin where it forms a ribbon with parallel upper and lower surfaces under gravity and surface tension. The molten tin bath is contained in a large tank divided into sections and maintained at temperatures around 1000°C. Rollers inside the tank control the thickness and dimensions of the glass sheet as it passes over the tin bath. The glass sheet is then annealed by gradual cooling in a lehr tunnel to reduce internal stresses before being cut, inspected, and packaged.

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537 views1 page

Float Glass Process Overview

The float glass process involves pouring molten glass onto a bath of molten tin where it forms a ribbon with parallel upper and lower surfaces under gravity and surface tension. The molten tin bath is contained in a large tank divided into sections and maintained at temperatures around 1000°C. Rollers inside the tank control the thickness and dimensions of the glass sheet as it passes over the tin bath. The glass sheet is then annealed by gradual cooling in a lehr tunnel to reduce internal stresses before being cut, inspected, and packaged.

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The Float Glass Process

The basic principle of the float process is to pour the molten glass onto a bath of molten tin, and to form a ribbon with
the upper and lower surfaces becoming parallel under the influence of gravity and surface tension.

The float tank (or bath) consists of a steel casing supported by a steel framework, and lined with refractory blocks
which contain the molten tin. The float tank is about 55m to 60m long, 4m to 10m wide and divided into 15 to 20 bays.
The tank is airtight and a slightly reducing atmosphere is maintained by the injection of a mixture of nitrogen and
hydrogen. This is essential to prevent the oxidation of the tin surface, which would damage the crucial contact surface
between the glass and the tin. Molten tin is used as the bath liquid because it is the only substance which remains
liquid and without a significant vapour pressure over the required temperature range.

The molten glass flows from the furnace along a refractory lined canal, which can be heated to maintain the correct
glass temperature. At the end of the canal the glass pours onto the tin bath through a special refractory lip (“the spout”)
which ensures correct glass spreading. The glass flow is controlled by means of an adjustable suspended refractory
shutter in the canal (the front “tweel”). Where the glass first makes contact with the tin, the temperature of the metal is
about 1000°C cooling to about 600°C at the exit of the bath. As it passes over the surface of the bath the glass
develops a uniform thickness and assumes the almost perfect flatness of the molten tin.

Figure 2.6: The Float Glass Process

Inside the float tank are several pairs of water-cooled top rollers, adjustable in direction, height, penetration and angle.
These rollers catch the glass sheet on both edges by cog-wheels and draw it in length and width. The rate of glass flow
and the rotation speeds of the rollers help to govern the thickness of the glass, typically from 1.5 mm to 19 mm. The
glass has a maximum natural thickness on the tin surface and graphite barriers can be introduced in order to produce
the thicker glasses.

At the exit of the float bath the glass ribbon is taken out by lift-out rollers, and is passed through a temperature
controlled tunnel, the lehr, to be annealed. At the beginning of the lehr, SO2 is sprayed on both sides of the ribbon,
providing a surface treatment to protect the glass against the contact of the rollers. The lehr is divided in sections in
which there is heating and indirect or direct cooling by forced and natural convection. Glass is thus gradually cooled
from 600°C to 60°C in order to reduce residual stresses, caused during the forming process, to an acceptable level.
This operation needs time and space, from the pouring of glass onto the float bath to the cutting line, there is a
continuous 200 m ribbon of glass. The cooled glass ribbon is cut on-line by a travelling cutter, the angle of the cutter
against the line depends on the speed of the line (90° if it was not moving). The edges of the ribbon that bear roller
marks are cut off and recycled to the furnace as cullet. The glass sheets are then inspected, packed and stored, either
for sale or for secondary processing.

On-line coatings can be applied to improve the performance of the product (e.g. low emissivity glazing). On-line
coating processes are case specific and the total number of plants within the industry with on-line coating facilities is
very low. A moving ribbon of glass is coated whilst hot by the impingement onto its surface of silica or tin compounds
where they react to form the required film. The process generally consists of two separate coating stages, a silicon
based undercoat and a separate topcoat, e.g. fluorine doped tin oxide. Due to the nature of the chemicals used,
emissions of acid gases and fine particulates can arise, which are generally treated in a dedicated abatement system.

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