1

GLASS INDUSTRIES
Lecture 4
2 INTRODUCTION
 Glass has three important properties that have made it
indispensable as a building material in modern
civilization: its hardness, its transparency, and its
chemical resistance. Glass may be defined, physically,
as a rigid, undercooled liquid having no definite melting
point and a sufficiently high viscosity (greater than 1012
Pa.s) to prevent crystallization; and chemically, as the
union of the nonvolatile inorganic oxides resulting from
the decomposition and fusion of alkali and alkaline
earth compounds, sand, and other glass constituents,
ending in a product with random atomic structure.
3 Composition
 In spite of hundreds of new developments in glass during
the past thirty years, it is worthy of note that lime, silica,
and soda still form over 90 % of all the glass of the world,
just as they did 2,000 years ago. It should not be inferred
that there have been no important changes in
composition during this period. Rather, there have been
minor changes in major ingredients or major changes in
minor ingredients. The major ingredients are sand, lime,
and soda ,ash, and any other raw materials may be
considered to be minor ingredients, even though the
effects produced may be of major importance.
4 Classification
 In general, commercial glasses fall into several different
classes:
 Fused silica, or Vitreous silica, is made by the high
temperature pyrolysis of silicon tetrachloride or by fusing of
quartz or pure sand.
 Alkali silicates-are known as a water soluble glasses used
only as solutions. Soda and soda ash are simply melted
together, and the products designated sodium silicates,
having a range of composition from Na2O.SiO2 to
Na2O.4SiO2.
 Soda-lime glass constitutes 95% of all glass manufactured.
It is used for all manner of containers, flat glass, automobile
and other windows, transparent fixtures.
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6 Continued……..
 Lead glass-the product obtained from lead oxide, silica,
and alkali for decorative and optical effects because of
their high index of refraction and dispersion also used for
shielding from nuclear radiation.
 Borosilicate glass-usually contains about 10-20% boric
oxide (B2O3), 80-87% silica, and less than 10% Na2O. Uses in
addition to laboratory ware, are high-tension insulators,
pipelines, and telescope lenses for scientific purposes.
 Special glasses-such as colored and coated glass,
translucent glass, safety, optical and laminated glass, fiber
glass, photochromic and photosensitive glass, glass
ceramics, phosphate glass are special glasses.
7 Raw Material
 In order to produce all these various glasses, large
tonnages of glass sand are used. To flux this silica, tons of
soda ash, salt cake, limestone or equivalent lime is
required. In addition to these, there is a heavy
consumption of lead oxide, pearl ash (potassium
carbonate), saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate), borax, boric
acid, arsenic trioxide, feldspar, and fluorspar, together
with a great variety of metallic oxides, carbonates, and
the other salts required for colored glass. In finishing
operations, such diverse products as abrasives and
hydrofluoric acid are consumed.
8 Raw Material
 Sand for glass manufacture should be almost pure
quartz. A glass-sand deposit has, in many cases,
determined the location of glass factories. Its iron
content should not exceed 0.45 % for tableware or
0.015% for optical glass, as iron affects adversely the
color of most glass.
 Soda, Na2O, is principally supplied by dense soda ash,
Na2CO3. Other sources are sodium bicarbonate, salt
cake, and sodium nitrate. The latter is useful in oxidizing
iron and in accelerating the melting. The important
sources for lime, CaO, are limestone and burnt lime from
dolomite (CaCO3.MgCO3) the latter introducing MgO
into the batch.
9 Raw Material
 Feldspars have the general formula R2O.Al2O3.6SiO2,
where R2O represents Na2O or K2O or a mixture of these
two. They have many advantages over most other
materials as a source of aluminum oxide, because they
are cheap, pure, and fusible and are composed entirely
of glass-forming oxides. Al2O3 itself is used only when cost
is a secondary item. Feldspars also supply Na2O or K2O
and SiO2. The alumina content serves to lower the
melting point of the glass and to retard devitrification.
10 Raw Material
 Borax, as a minor ingredient, supplies the glass with both
sodium oxide and boric oxide. There is also a high-index
borate glass which has a lower dispersion value and higher
refractive index than any glass previously known. This is
valuable as an optical glass.
 Salt cake, long accepted as a minor ingredient of glass,
and also other sulfates, such as ammonium and barium
sulfates, are encountered frequently in all types of glass.
Salt cake is said to remove the troublesome scum from
tank furnaces.
 Cullet is the crushed glass from imperfect articles, trim or
otherwise waste glass. It facilitates the melting and utilizes a
waste. It may be as low as 10% of the charge or as high as
80%.
11 Raw Material
 Refractory blocks for the glass industry have been
developed especially because of the severe conditions
encountered here. Electrocast alumina, zirconia-
alumina-silica, mullite, mullite-alumina, magnesia-
alumina, and chrome-alumina combinations are typical
of these for glass tanks. Latest practice in regenerators
utilizes basic refractories because of the alkali dust and
vapors. Furnace operating temperatures are limited
mainly by silica-brick crowns, which are economical to
use in the industry.
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Chemical Reactions
Na2CO3  aSiO2  Na2O.aSiO2  CO2
CaCO3  bSiO2  CaO.bSiO2  CO2
Na2 SO4  cSiO2  C  Na2O.cSiO2  SO2  CO
Na2 SO4  C  Na2 SO3  CO
2 Na2 SO4  C  2 Na2 SO3  CO2
Na2 SO3  cSiO2  Na2O.cSiO2  SO2
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MANUFACTURING OF GLASS
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Manufacturing Process
 The manufacturing process of glass consist of the
following four steps:
1) Melting the charge

2) Fabrication of the article

3) Annealing the article formed

4) Finishing treatments
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17 1. Melting of the charge
 Amount of raw materials for the batch are calculated
from the chemical composition of individual
components. Minor ingredients are weighed accurately
and given a preliminary mixing with one of the dry batch
ingredients before adding to the main charge then to
the batch mixer which is a revolving drum provided with
blades to lift and spread the material uniformly. After
proper mixing of ingredient it is charged into the
furnace.
 Two types furnaces are used for glass melting
a) Pot furnace
b) Tank furnace
18 a) Pot Furnace

 In pot furnace, glass is melted in open or covered pots

(closed pots) of fire clay placed inside the combustion
chambers of the furnace fired directly with coal or
producer gas. Pot furnaces are generally used for small
scale melting with an approximate capacity of 2 tons or
less and fabrication by hand, for the production of glass
bangles, table wares, lamp wares, thermos-flask etc.
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20 b) Tank Furnace

 In this process, cross flame regenerative type of gas or oil

used. The port is arranged along the side of the tank
above the glass level those on any one side is
alternatively incoming and outgoing ports.
 Manufacturing large quantities of a particular type of
glass tank furnace is used. E.g. manufacture of sheet
glass container ware, lamp shells and resistance glasses,
continuous tank furnaces are generally used.
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22  The regeneration system consists of chambers filled with
open brickwork situated on either side of the furnace,
through which hot waste gases and air required for
combustion pass alternatively at regular intervals of
about 30 minutes. The flame acts directly upon the raw
batch and molten glass. The temperature inside the
furnace is generally kept at 870-985 0C. The molten glass
kept at a constant level by continuous charging rate
which is equal to the rate of withdrawal from the
furnace. After withdrawal from the furnace, slow cooling
of molten glass is carried to minimize permanent strain.
The higher the temperature used for reheating, lesser will
be time to remove the strain.
23 2. Fabrication of an article
 The molten glass is fabricated to require size and shape
by either by hand or by machine. Hand fabrication is
adopted for small production and machine fabrication
is adopted for large scale production.
 Following are the different ways of fabrication
a) Blowing
b) Casting
c) Drawing
d) Pressing
e) Rolling
f) Spinning
24 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. Annealing allows the molecules to
arrange themselves in such a way that there is no internal
strain when the mass is cooled. Annealing is done in a tunnel
like oven called lehr which is 50 to 60 feet long. At one end
the temperature is a little below the softening point of
glass, i.e., 500-600°C and it gradually falls along the length of
the oven. At the other end the temperature is almost the
same as the room temperature. Immediately after shaping,
the articles are introduced into the lehr at the hotter end and
travel towards the cooler end by means of a moving belt. It
takes a few hours for the articles to move along through the
tunnel. Some high quality glasses require long annealing.
25 Methods of Annealing

Following are the methods of annealing

a) Flue Treatment

b) Oven treatment
26 Flue treatment
This method is useful for large scale
production. In the process long flue is used
which is constructed in such a way that
there is gradual decrease in temperature
from one end of it to the other. The red-hot
articles of glass are allowed to enter at the
hot end of flue and they are slowly moved
on travelling bands. They become cool
when they reach the cool end of flue.
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28 Oven treatment
This method is useful for small scale
production. The red- hot glass articles are
placed in ovens, in which arrangement is
made to control the temperature. After
articles are placed in ovens, the
temperature is slowly brought down.
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30 4. Finishing treatments

a) Bending

b) Cutting

c) Opaque making

d) Silvering
31 a) Bending
Glass may be bent into desired shape by
placing it in ovens in which temperature can
be regulated. Glass in the form of rods, sheets
or tubes is placed in such ovens and heated. It
is then bent when it is suitable heated.
b) Cutting
Glass is cut in required sizes with the help of
diamond or rough glasses or small wheels of
hardened steel
32 c) Opaque making
Glass can also be made opaque or impervious
to light. It is done by grinding the glass surface
with emery. It can also be achieved chemically
by the application of hydrofluoric acid.
d) Silvering
This process consists in applying a very thin coat
of tin on the surface of glass. Silver is deposited
on this layer of tin. A suitable paint is then
applied to give protection, against
atmospheric effects.
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Chemical Engineering Applications
 Glass, because of its reasonable price, its surface
hardness and smoothness, its low coefficient of
expansion, and its chemical inertness and transparency
has taken an important place in industry as an essential
chemical engineering material.
 Glass is used in three forms that are of interest to the
process engineer:
1. in bulk, in fairly large pieces of equipment, such as pipe, towers
and pumps;
2. as a coating, over steel and cast iron, as in tanks, reactors and
pipe;
3. as fibers, in insulation, fabrics, tower packing, and plastic
laminates.
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