Glass Technology

Definition:-

It is non-crystalline, hardened fluid; its hardening resulted due to a sudden

cooling. Glass does not possess a definite (fixed or specific) fusion
temperature. It has high viscosity which prevents its formation as crystals.
The main compositions of glass include:

Silica sand
Soda Na2 O sodium carbonates 90% of glass
Lime CaO limestone

The minor compounds in glass are about 10% of its composition; include
different types of oxides depending on type of produced glass.

Properties:-

1) Cheap price.
2) low expansion modulus (or coefficient )
3) Glass have a hard and fine surface
4) Can be easily formed and molded in different shape and size.
5) Chemically inert.
6) Transparent.
7) Brittle.

Raw Materials:- The properties of glass vary depending on the

chemical composition of its raw materials, and on the added oxides,
as shown below:

1- Glass sand (quartz)

 It should contain almost pure silica (SiO2).

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  The amount of Iron oxide in the sand suitable for ordinary glass
manufacturing (windows or bottles glass for example) should not
exceed 0.045%, and for glass used in optical equipments the
amount should not exceed 0.015%.

 Particles size of sand :

The Particles size of sand ranges between (0.1 -0.5) mille-
micron. If the sand particles size is coarser, its fusion will be
difficult, and if the sand particles is finer, a lot amount of air will be
introduced producing a glass containing air bubbles

2) Limestone :
Calcium oxide is obtained from the Limestone that is sometimes available
in the form of “Dolomite” which contains a percentage of magnesium oxide
(that decreases the crystallization rate of glass).
Generally the total percentage of calcium and magnesium carbonates
should not be less than 97%.
Most of the Limestone contains alumina, and a percentage of iron oxide
(which should not exceed 0.2%).
The particles size of limestone should be 0.1 mille-microns, and it is
allowed not more than 10% of the particles to be with larger size reaching
to 1.5 mille-microns.
Lime (CaO) is important for the durability and toughness of glass, and it
reduce the melting of sodium silicate.

3) Soda Ash (Na2O):-

It is obtained from sodium carbonate (Na 2CO3). The purity of the sodium
carbonate should not be less than 99%. The benefits of soda include:
a) Reduce the fusion temperature of silica (flux).
b) It oxidizes Iron to reduce its effect on the required pure color.

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4) Potassium carbonate :
It might be used instead of soda ash in some glass industries, where
potassium gives shiny glass more than sodium carbonate do.
Potassium carbonate increase the fracture modulus of the glass and it gives
the glass the fire resistance property, but the "potash" has a high ability to
absorb moisture from the atmosphere, therefore it is necessary to store it in
dry places .

5) Feldspar:-
AL2O3 can be obtained from Feldspar. Glass contains about 2% of AL 2O3. This
oxide increases the mechanical and chemical strength of glass, and reduces its
ability to crystallize.

6) Borax :-
It is used to add boric oxide (B 2O3) to the glass, where this oxide gives a high
chemical and thermal resistance to glass. Pyrex glass (heat resistance glass)
contains about 12% of boric oxide.
Sometimes, (1-2) % of boric oxide is added to improve the fusion process of
glass.

7) Red lead :
The red lead or lead oxide (PbO) is used in the manufacturing of the
amorphous lead glass, which contain about 30% of lead oxide. (PbO) give
the glass high refractive index (amorphous glass). The amorphous glass is
soft so it is easy to cut it or to dig on it). Lead oxide (PbO) increase the
density of glass, therefore the amorphous glass is heavier than the ordinary
glass (made from soda-lime-silica).
But lead oxide (PbO) gives undesirable color to the glass.

8) Coloring agents:

Many elements and their oxides are used in coloring the glass with the
required colors. The true color of glass resulting from the coloring agent

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 depends on the chemical composition of glass and the fusion conditions
inside the furnace.

Properties of glass:

Glass is classified as a ceramic material. It forms at high temperatures and leave

to cool. Its plasticity can be restored or even make it fusible by heat. The raw
materials used in the manufacturing of glass have a great influence on its physical,
chemical and mechanical properties.

The presence of imparities in the raw material of glass also has a great influence
on the properties and colors of glass.

Chemical Properties of glass:

1. Glass is resistant to most types of acids except hydrofluoric acid.
2. It is damaged by the alkaline solutions. Where it melt rapidly in those
solutions.
This damage occurs when the glass is subjected to these materials for a
long period of time, where it causes the surface of the glass to scratch and
cause reduction in its surface transparency.
3. Glass is affected very slowly by water, through the reduction of its surface
transparency.

Physical Properties:-
1. Viscosity: it is considered as one of the most important properties
of glass, since forming and transforming glass to different products
depends totally on its viscosity.
Viscosity of glass, as measured in centimeter-gram-second units
known as poise, decreases with rising temperature.
Both sodium oxide Na2O and potassium oxide K2O reduce the
viscosity of glass, while aluminum oxide AL2O3 increases the
viscosity. It is required a long time to get rid of grains (or particles)
in the high viscosity glass, and vise versa.
Working point: The temperature at which glass has a viscosity of
104 poises.

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 Softening point: The temperature at which glass has a viscosity of
107.6 poises. In this temperature, glass will deform under its own
weight.

2. Density and Specific gravity:

The density of normal glass (soda-lime-silica glass) is about 2.5

g/cm3.

The density change with the change of the composition of glass,

and since it is easy to measure the density of glass; therefore it is
used as a quality control method on the composition of glass.
The specific gravity of glass ranges between 2.125 and 8.12 for
different types of glass.

Mechanical Properties:-
Glass has no definite specific tensile strength, where this strength
depends on the cross sectional area of glass, where the glass fiber have a
tensile strength of about 10000 N/mm2,while a glass having a cross
sectional area of 6.5cm2 have a tensile strength of 34.5 N/mm2. The
strength varies slightly with the increase of temperature until reaching the
softening point where glass becomes brittle material. At Fracture, glass
will always fail at tension.
The compressive strength of glass is about 10 time greater than its tensile
strength, and it is about (620 -1240) N/mm 2, while the tensile strength is
about (28-48) N/mm2 for the same cross sectional area.
Fracture mostly begins from the surface of the glass, while only scratch
or some other flaws occur at the inside parts.
The glass bottles is often tested by considering the thermal
resistance, where the thermal stress (that the glass bottles can bear) is
evaluated by applying tensile stresses on the product, and the weak point
of the bottle which is the concourse point of the surfaces that breaks
when applying to it a tensile stresses greater than its bearing capacity,

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therefore the fracture occur when a hot liquid is poured inside the bottle
or when it is heated and then immersed in cold liquid.
Generally the tensile strength is not measured for a glass specimen, but
it is measured for the weak points on the surface, therefore treating (and
taking care of) the glass products surfaces is very important.
It is important to know the thermal expansion of glass, which ranges
between (70-80) *10-7/oC (whether it is obtained from the generated
internal stresses, as in the case of pouring hot water inside a glass bottle,
or from the actual expansion of glass), the thermal conductivity (related to
loss of heat and cold within the building), the durability during service life,
and ultra violet penetration.
The glass resistance and strength depend on its present flaws and cracks.

Optical Properties:-

Most of the glass products are manufactured from colorless

transparent glass that permits penetration of high percentage of the light
through. It is known that the sun light consists of three parts:

1. ultra-violet radiation
2. visible light
3. infra-red radiation

Glass permit the penetration of about (85-95) % of the visible light, and
most of the glass is impervious to the ultra-violet light, and part of the
fallen light on the glass is reflected. The percentage of the reflected light
on glass can be calculated by the following equation:-

( x−1)2
y=
x +1

Where:

Y = reflective
X= refractive index.

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 Acoustical Properties:-

Glass has a poor soundproofing property, where the amount of sound

proofing reaches to (28-32) decibel (db) for 2mm thickness of glass sheet.

The soundproofing of glass increases with the increase in glass thickness.

Electrical Properties:-
Glass is non-conduction to the electrical current at room temperature,
and its conductivity increases at high temperatures because the
movement of electrons increases at the high temperatures and cause
transference of electrons which cause conduction in the glass.

Types of glass:-
1) Pure silica glass (Quartz glass):-
This type of glass doesn't contain impurities in its composition, and it is
composed from 100% pure silica.
Properties:-
a) Have a very high softening point, therefore it resist the relatively high
temperatures.
b) Have a low expandability due to temperature.
c) Have a very high chemical resistance, but it is affected by hydrofluoric
acid.
d) Have a high transparency to all types of the rays.
e) Used in the manufacturing of some expansive scientific and domestic
equipments.
2) Soda-lime-glass:-
It is the ordinary glass used in the manufacturing of domestic items and
other daily life needs. It composes from 70-74% silica, 10-13% CaO, and 13-
16% Na2O.

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 It fuses at temperatures less than that of pure silica glass, because of the
presence of the sodium oxide (Na2O) which performs as a fluxing material.
It has a reasonable viscosity, and can be made mechanically or by
handmade.
Some oxide might be added to the Soda-lime-glass to give it a specific
color.

3) Lead glass :-
Its components are:
(54-65)% SiO2
(18-38)% PbO
(13-15)% Na2O
It has a very high refractive index and high reflection susceptibility to the
fallen light. It consists from silica that has a moment (or portion of lead
added to it.
Lead glass is used in the manufacturing of light bulbs and florescent tubes,
because it has a very low expansion coefficient and very high electrical
resistance.
It is also use in the field of prevention of different types of radiations;
therefore it is widely used in field of nuclear industries and in radiotherapy.

4) Borosilicate glass (Pyrex):

Its components are:
(70-80)% SiO2
(2 -7) % AL2O3
(7 -13) % B2O5
(4 -8) % Na2O
It has the following properties:
1. low expansion coefficient
2. Resistant to thermal shocks.
3. High electrical Resistance.
4. High chemical stability.

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 5) Phosphate glass :-
It is consisted from adding a high percentage of P 2O5 to silica. It is mainly
used in prevention of the effect of nuclear radiations. It has a very high
resistant to hydrofluoric acid.
6) Alkaline- Silica glass (water glass):-
It has high ability to dissolve in water. It is manufactured by mixing pure
sand with soda ash (Na2CO3) and fusing them to from sodium silicate
(Na2O.4SiO2 - Na2O.SiO2).
It is used as an adhesive material in the paper industry and in the industrial
detergents industry, as a surface hardening material for the concrete.
7) Float glass (plate):-
Float glass gets its name from the method of production used in its
manufacture. The molten glass is "floated" onto a bed of molten tin. This
produces a glass which is flat and free of distortion.
Float glass can be cut using a glass cutter and no special equipment is
necessary.
8) Mirrors
Mirrors are usually made from 4-6 mm. float glass, and silvered at one side.
Mirrors should not be used without frame as they shatter dangerously if they
break.

Manufacturing problems of glass:-

The important factors in manufacturing of glass are:-

A) Not using pure raw materials with the required fineness:

The presence of impurities in the raw materials of glass manufacturing
affects the quality and color of the produced glass.
B) The technology used in the Manufacture of glass:
It is required to use furnaces of controlled and well stable and equally
distributed temperature inside them, otherwise this will reflect
negatively on the quality of the product and increases the proportion of
waste due to the appearance of defects.
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1- Crystallization capability:-

The weakness in some properties of glass can be attributed to the

crystallization occur in some parts of the glass during the manufacturing
process, due to separation of some crystals from the fused glass of the
paste that is because of the chemical heterogeneity which is a resulted
from the improper mixing or due to the presence of impurities or slag
which cause formation of nuclei for the crystals and its growth. The rate
of forming these crystals is inversely proportional with the viscosity of
glass.

Crystallization will also occur also, if we keep the glass for a long
period of time at the working temperature or at the annealing process.

When the crystals form, the glass will disturb and lose completely its
transparency due to the increase in absorption (increasing the value of
absorption coefficient) which is due to the change of the glass
composition.

The refractive index of glass will also change, and material will act as a
photo flexible material because of the stresses that appear due to
variations of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the formed crystals.

Crystals may also from as a result of the increase of the ambient

temperature, which leads to the increase of the motion capability of ions
in composition of glass, which make the crystals to grow with time.

Also the increase of the humidity, and the spreading of some acids in
the atmosphere, helps the crystallization process, causing the glass to
have bad optical properties.

2- Temperature and pressure:

In addition to the main role of the temperature during the
manufacturing process of glass, its effect continues after completion of
the manufacturing process. Where it affects its composition, and so on

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 its properties, where we can notice that when the temperature rises, the
transparency and permeability of glass will decrease and the absorption
coefficient and the amount of absorption will increase due to the effect
of temperature. The color of glass change due to the thermal effects, and
that is because of transferring of the absorption bundles to higher
wavelengths. On the other hand, cooling the glass will cause the
absorption bundles to transform to shorter wavelengths.

The refractive index of glass varies with the variation of temperature,

with the following two factors:

a. The reduction in density with increase in temperature cause the

reduction of refractive index.
b. The transfer of the absorption bundles of the short wave to long waves,
cause increase of the refractive index.

Also many researchers referred that the increase in the hydrostatic

pressure leads to a reduction in the specific volume, and so an increase in
the refractive index.

3- Chemical Factors:-
Glass is considered as a chemically inert material and it doesn’t affect by the
external environments, but with the progress of the service life the glass, there
are some factors such as water and humidity which affect the quality of glass.
The glass adsorbs water and humidity very slowly causing it to combine with
the alkaline oxides to from a rich hydrated silica layer:-
Na2O. SiO2+ 2H2O 2 NaOH +H2SiO3
The resulted sodium hydroxide becomes one of the deforming factors of
the glass, where it reacts with carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere to
form sodium carbonate, which leads permanently to form a glass with
contaminated and spotted surface.
If the attack of water is strong, it will cause the lose of transparency and
reduction in the light permeability because of the dispersion of light as a result
of losing the bright and glaze surface of glass.
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 Also the hydrofluoric acid has an important effect on the erosion of the glass
surface.

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