Rajshahi University of Engineering &

Technology
Department of Glass & Ceramic Engineering
Experiment Name: Study on Stress development in
glass and their remedies.

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Abdullah Subbir Md. Jahidul Haque Lecturer
1706024 Glass And Ceramic
Engineering

Course No.: GCE 4112

Course Name: Glass Manufacturing Sessional
Date of Submission: 28.11.2022
 Study on Stress development in glass and their
remedies
OBJECTIVES:
 To know about the stresses generated in glass
 To know about the source of the stresses
 To know about the remedies of such stresses
 To able to select the proper glass for the required circumstances based on stress

INTRODUCTION:
Stress is a physical quantity that quantifies the limit of a material to withstand mechanical force
before failure. Stress is the expression of internal forces between adjacent particles of a continuous
material exert on each other.

Glass can be defined as, “an amorphous solid completely lacking long range, periodic atomic
structure and exhibiting a region of glass transformation behavior” The common
characteristics of glass is:

 Lack of long range periodic ordered atomic arrangement

 Exhibition of a time dependent glass transformation behavior

Glasses are used in practical life and thus are subjected to stress most of the time. Glass is subjected
to both mechanical and thermal stress in various ways.

Stress development of glass:

The stresses that a glass is subjected to can be divided into two simple types

 Internal Stress
 External Stress

Internal Stress:
Internal stress is the stress that generates within the glass generally due to cooling of glass. Glasses
usually contain a large variety of materials in them. During manufacture they are melt down to a
certain temperature and then cooled at a faster predetermined rate to avoid crystallization. During
this fast cooling, internal stresses develop within the glass.

It is a form of thermal stress. Because of the uneven heating and cooling that is done throughout
the glass-forming process as well as the often uneven thickness, stress development is likely to
occur. While the glass is still fairly fluid and viscous, there is little possibility of fracture but, as
soon as the material starts to solidify, stresses start to build.

External Stress:
External stresses are those that a finished product experiences in everyday practical use. It can vary
from product to product depending on their uses. If the stress exerted on the material is greater
than their limit, the material experience failure.

Stresses developed on glass can also be classified by the following

 Temporary stresses
 Permanent stresses

Temporary Stress:
Temporary stress are those stresses that exists as long as the temperature gradient exists.
Temporary stresses develop in an unconstrained elastic solid only if there is a nonlinear
temperature gradient across the body.

Permanent Stress:
Stresses that remain even after the temperature gradient is gone are called permanent stresses.
These stresses develop on cooling through the glass transition range into the solid state, stresses
are likely to develop within the body, which no longer relax in the absence of a viscous flow. The
internal stress discussed prior is an example of permanent stress. The various mechanisms for such
permanent stress development are as follows:

I. Cooling from the outside results in a “frozen” temperature gradient with a higher
temperature in the interior. Inner layers continue to relax from fluid flow while the outer
layers gradually freeze. Due to the interior contracting more than the exterior does at room
temperature and the application of the elastic compatibility criterion between the layers,
 compression on the outside and tension within appears. This mechanism is known as the
viscoelastic mechanism.
II. The outside layers cool at a rate faster than that of the inside layers during normal cooling.
Hence, the outside layers tend to possess a faster-cooled structure having a higher volume
in the free state. This, in principle, is a permanent structural heterogeneity. This, in
principle, is a permanent structural heterogeneity. The enforcement of the elastic
compatibility criteria causes the outside layers to develop compression and the inside layers
to develop tension.
III. The fact that the various layers travel through the glass transition range at different instants
of time causes the development of a “frozen fictive temperature gradient.” This is a
transient structural heterogeneity. The removal of the transient fictive temperature gradient
causes the appearance of compression on the outside and tension on the inside.

Remedies of stress development:

Any additional stress is always undesired as it increases the probability of failure of a product. To
prevent stress form building in a material some processes are used as remedies, such as:

 Annealing
 Tempering

Annealing:
Annealing is done to remove the undesired permanent stresses generated in glass during
manufacture or tempering. It is also able to remove temporary stresses. Annealing is done during
the manufacturing process to prevent permanent stress.

In annealing process, the glass piece is simply heated to a relatively higher temperature and held
for a set amount of time for the glass piece to relax. Once relaxation is complete, the piece is cooled
slowly. In general, the heating rate during the initial portion of the annealing schedule is relatively
unimportant. Glasses are typically held for 30 to 60 minutes at a temperature of 5 K above the
annealing point obtained from viscosity measurements. After completion of the isothermal
treatment, the glass is cooled very slowly. The rate of cooling is determined by the allowable final
permanent stresses and property variations through the glass.
 Figure 1: Annealing process diagram

Tempering:
Tempering is done on the finished product to toughen the glass so that it can resist greater stresses.
It is generally used to resist external stresses. Tempering is done in two ways

 Chemical Tempering
 Thermal Tempering

Chemical Tempering:
Chemical tempering is done via a salt bath where smaller alkali ions of the glass with larger ions.
The exchange of large alkali ions from an external source such as a molten salt bath with
comparatively smaller host alkali ions in a glass at low temperatures leaves the glass in a state of
surface compression, which is an effective means of strengthening the glass. Large ions are
essentially stuffed in glass network interstitial spaces occupied previously by the small ions.
Chemical strengthening of glass must be carried out at temperatures well below the glass transition
range.

Figure 2: Chemical tempering

Thermal Tempering:
Also known as heat strengthening, thermal tempering of glass involves rapidly cooling glass after
it has been heated to extremely high temperatures. The glass's surface and edges are compressed
by the quick temperature change, making it significantly stronger than conventional glass goods.
as a consequence, glass doesn't break into potentially harmful pieces. The glass is significantly
safer than annealed glass since it breaks into tiny, mostly harmless fragments along circular edges.

Figure 3: Thermal tempering

CONCLUSION:
Stress in glass is a complicated and delicate matter as one can introduce controlled stress for better
properties via tempering but uncontrolled stresses are always undesired. Glasses are brittle solids.
The hardness of a glass is determined by the strength of the bonds forming the network and by the
structure of the glass. Glasses must be handled with care to maintain their strength. Stresses may
be either permanent or temporary and frequently cause fracture of glasses. So, one should always
a good understanding of stress in glasses to work with them. The goal throughout this study session
was to obtain a better understanding about it.