Scribd
Upload
28 views3 pages

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid solution primarily composed of silicates and borates, with various types including soft glass, hard glass, flint glass, borosilicate glass, and Crooks' glass, each serving distinct purposes. The manufacturing process involves melting raw materials like lime, sand, and soda ash, shaping the glass, annealing to reduce brittleness, and finishing for usability. Cullet and coloring agents are also incorporated to enhance the glass properties and achieve desired colors.

Uploaded by

kayum1363838
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views3 pages

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid solution primarily composed of silicates and borates, with various types including soft glass, hard glass, flint glass, borosilicate glass, and Crooks' glass, each serving distinct purposes. The manufacturing process involves melting raw materials like lime, sand, and soda ash, shaping the glass, annealing to reduce brittleness, and finishing for usability. Cullet and coloring agents are also incorporated to enhance the glass properties and achieve desired colors.

Uploaded by

kayum1363838
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Engineering materials (Part II) - Glass

GLASS
Glass is a transparent or translucent amorphous supercooled solid solution of silicates and borates.
The most common silicates present are those of potassium, calcium and lead.
An approximate formula for ordinary glass may be given as R2O.MO.6SiO2
where R = Na or K and M = Ca, Ba, Zn or Pb
SiO2 component in the above general formula can be replaced by Al2O3, B2O3 or P2O5,
DIFFERENT TYPES OF GLASS AND THEIR USES
Some important types of glasses along with their uses are described briefly as follows:
1. Soft Glass (Soda-lime glass): It is made by fusing soda ash, sand and limestone together. It is used for
making bottles, tumblers, window panes, cheap glassware, etc.
2. Hard Glass (Potash-lime glass): It is obtained by fusing potassium carbonate, sand and limestone
together. It is harder and stronger than the soda glass. It is used for making apparatus capable of
withstanding high temperature such as combustion tubes.
3. Flint glass (Potash-lead Glass): This is made from potassium carbonate, lead oxide or red lead and sand.
This is heavy, shining and extraordinarily durable. This is used for making optical instruments like lenses,
prisms, etc. and cut glass articles, like objects of decoration, imitation diamonds or jewels.
4. Borosilicate Glass. In this glass a part of the silica is replaced by boric oxide (B2O3). . This is made by
fusing a mixture of sand, lime, borax and alkali carbonates. Pyrex glass and Jena glass are two well-
known trade marks of borosilicate glasses. These are widely used for making laboratory apparatus,
thermometers, kitchenware, tableware, insulators, etc.
5. Crooks’ glass. It is a special type of glass containing cerium oxide. It does not allow the passage of
ultraviolet rays. It is used for making lenses.
RAW MATERIALS FOR MAKING GLASS
The major ingredients of glasses are
Lime (CaCO3) – 11%
Sand (SiO2) – 71%
Soda ash (Na2CO3) – 14% and other ingredients – 4%.

Depending the upon the type of glass to be manufactured, raw materials required for each type of
glass are shown in the table below.
Sl. No. Type of glass Raw materials
1 Soda- lime glass Lime, Soda ash and sand.
2 Potash- lime glass Lime, Potassium carbonate and sand.
3 Potash- lead glass lead oxide or red lead, Potassium carbonate and sand.
4 Common glass Lime, salt cake (Na2SO4), coke and sand
5 Borosilicate glass Lime, Borax, alkali carbonates and sand.
In addition to the raw materials, cullet and colouring matters are also added for each type of glass.
Cullet is the crushed glass from imperfect or defective articles or their trimmings. It makes the
melting easy and also utilization of waste.
Colouring matters are added to obtain coloured glasses. Various colouring agents and the
corresponding shades are grouped as follows:
Red : CdO
Ruby red : Cu2O
Light yellow : Cerium oxide or Titanium oxide (TiO2)
Deep blue : Cobalt oxide (CoO)
Greenish blue : Copper (II) oxide, CuO
Black : MnO2 + Fe2O3
Yellow : CdS
Emerald green: Cr2O3
MANUFCTURE OF GLASS
The manufacturing process of glass consists of four major operations:
(1) Melting, (2) Shaping, (3) Annealing, (4) Finishing. Each operation is being discussed briefly as
follows:
1. Melting: The ingredients called batch materials are mixed in the appropriate proportion and heated
to fusion in a furnace. The two most commonly used furnaces are: (i) Pot furnace and (ii) Tank furnace.

When the fusion is complete the fused mass are removed from the furnace and taken out for shaping.
The chemical reactions involved in the furnaces are:
Na2CO3 + SiO2 → Na2SiO3 + CO2
2Na2SO4 + 2SiO2 → 2Na2SiO3 + O2 + 2SO2
CaCO3 + SiO2 → CaSiO3 + CO2
Na2SiO3 + CaSiO3 + 4SiO2 → Na2SiO3.CaSiO3 .4SiO2
Glass
2. Shaping: The plastic glass formed in the furnace is next shaped or formed into the desired articles.
It is accomplished by blowing from mouth or by means of a machine.
3. Annealing: It is a process of cooling slowly the newly shaped articles. If they are cooled quickly
they become brittle on account of the high internal strain.
4. Finishing: The articles obtained from the lehr are subjected to a number of operations such as cleaning,
polishing, grinding, rounding edges, etc., for bringing them to a useable form.

You might also like