GLASSWORKING

1. Raw Materials Preparation and Melting

2. Shaping Processes in Glassworking
3. Heat Treatment and Finishing
4. Product Design Considerations
 Glass: Overview of the Material

 Glass is one of three basic types of ceramics

 The others are traditional ceramics and new
ceramics
 Glass is distinguished by its noncrystalline structure
 The other ceramic materials have a crystalline
structure
 Glass Products

 Glass products are commercially produced in an almost

unlimited variety of shapes
 Most products made in very large quantities
 Light bulbs, bottles, jars, light bulbs
 Window glass
 Glass tubing
 Glass fibers
 Other products are made individually
 Giant telescope lenses
 Shaping Methods for Glass

 Methods are quite different from those for traditional

and new ceramics
 Process sequence in shaping glass:
 Starting material is heated to transform it from a
hard solid into a viscous liquid
 It is then shaped while in this fluid condition
 When cooled and hard, the material remains in
the glassy state rather than crystallizing
 Process Sequence in
Glassworking
 Typical process sequence in glassworking: (1)
preparation of raw materials and melting, (2) shaping,
and (3) heat treatment
 Raw Materials Preparation and
Melting
 Principal component in nearly all glasses is silica, SiO2
 Primary source is natural quartz in sand
 Other components are added in proportions to achieve
the desired composition:
 Soda ash (source of Na2O), limestone (source of
CaO), aluminum oxide (Al2O3),
 Recycled glass is usually added to the mixture too
 Glass Melting

 The batch of starting materials is called a charge, and

loading it into furnace is called charging the furnace
 Melting temperatures for glass are around 1500C
to 1600C (2700F to 2900F)
 Viscosity of molten glass is inversely related to
temperature
 Shaping immediately follows melting, so
temperature at which the glass is tapped depends
on the viscosity required for the shaping process
 Shaping Processes in
Glassworking
 Shaping processes to fabricate glass products can
be grouped into three categories:
1. Discrete processes for piece ware (bottles, jars,
plates, light bulbs)
2. Continuous processes for making flat glass
(sheet and plate glass) and tubing (laboratory
ware, fluorescent lights)
3. Fiber‑making processes to produce fibers (for
insulation and fiber optics)
 Shaping of Piece Ware

 Ancient methods of hand-working glass included

glass blowing
 Handicraft methods are still used today for making
glassware items of high value in small quantities
 However, most modern glass shaping processes are
highly mechanized technologies for producing
discrete pieces such as jars, bottles, and light bulbs
in high quantities
 Piece Ware Shaping Processes

 Spinning – similar to centrifugal casting of metals

 Pressing – mass production of flat products such as
dishes and TV tube faceplates
 Press-and-blow –production of wide-mouth containers
such as jars
 Blow-and-blow - production of smaller-mouth containers
such as beverage bottles and incandescent light bulbs
 Casting – large items such as astronomical lenses that
must cool slowly to avoid cracking
 Spinning:
Process Sequence
 Spinning of funnel‑shaped glass parts such as cathode
ray tubes for TVs: (1) gob of glass dropped into mold;
and (2) rotating mold to spread molten glass on mold
 Pressing of Flat Pieces:
Process Sequence
 (1) Glass gob is fed into mold; (2) pressing into shape
by plunger; and (3) plunger is retracted and finished
product is removed
 Press-and-Blow:
Process Sequence
 (1) molten gob is fed into mold cavity; (2) pressing to
form a parison; (3) parison is transferred to blow mold,
and (4) blown to final shape
 Blow-and-Blow:
Process Sequence
 (1) gob is fed into mold cavity; (2) mold is covered; (3)
first blow step; (4) partially formed piece is repositioned
in second blow mold, and (5) blown to final shape
 Casting

 If molten glass is sufficiently fluid, it can be poured

into a mold
 Massive objects, such as astronomical lenses and
mirrors, are made by this method
 After cooling and solidifying, the piece must be
finished by lapping and polishing
 Casting is not often used except for special jobs
 Smaller lenses are usually made by pressing
 Shaping of Flat and Tubular
Glass
 Processes for producing flat glass such as sheet and
plate glass:
 Rolling of flat plate
 Float process
 Process for producing glass tubes
 Danner process
 Rolling of Flat Plate Glass

 Starting glass from furnace is squeezed through

opposing rolls, followed by grinding and polishing for
parallelism and smoothness
 Float Process for Producing
Sheet Glass
 Molten glass flows onto surface of a molten tin bath,
achieving uniform thickness and smoothness - no grinding or
polishing is needed
 Danner Process for Drawing
Glass Tubing
 Molten glass flows around a rotating hollow mandrel
through which air is blown while glass is drawn
 Forming of Glass Fibers

Glass fiber products fall into two categories, with

different production methods for each:
1. Fibrous glass for thermal insulation, acoustical
insulation, and air filtration, in which the fibers are in
a random, wool‑like condition
 Produced by centrifugal spraying
2. Long continuous filaments suitable for fiber
reinforced plastics, yarns, fabrics, and fiber optics
 Produced by drawing
 Centrifugal Spraying

 In a typical process for making glass wool, molten

glass flows into a rotating bowl with many small
orifices around its periphery
 Centrifugal force causes the glass to flow through the
holes to become a fibrous mass suitable for thermal
and acoustical insulation
 Drawing of Continuous Glass
Fibers

 Continuous glass fibers of

small diameter are
produced by pulling
strands of molten glass
through small orifices in a
heated plate made of a
platinum alloy
 Heat Treatment:
Annealing of Glass

Heating to elevated temperature and holding to eliminate

stresses and temperature gradients; then slow cooling
to suppress stress formation, then more rapid cooling
to room temperature
 Annealing temperatures ~ 500C (900F)
 Same function as in metalworking – stress relief
 Annealing is performed in tunnel‑like furnaces, called
lehrs, in which products move slowly through the hot
chamber on conveyors
 Tempering of Glass

Heating to a temperature somewhat above annealing

temperature into the plastic range, followed by
quenching of surfaces, usually by air jets
 Surfaces cool and harden while interior is still plastic
 As the internal glass cools, it contracts, putting the hard
surfaces in compression
 Tempered glass is more resistant to scratching and
breaking due to compressive stresses on its surfaces
 Products: windows for tall buildings, all‑glass doors,
safety glasses
 Case Study:
Automobile Windshields
 When tempered glass fails, it shatters into many small
fragments
 Automobile windshields are not made of tempered
glass, due to the danger posed by this fragmentation
 Instead, conventional glass is used; it is fabricated by
sandwiching two pieces of glass on either side of a
tough polymer sheet
 Should this laminated glass fracture, the glass splinters
are retained by the polymer sheet and the windshield
remains relatively transparent
 Finishing Operations on Glass

 Operations include grinding, polishing, and cutting

 Glass sheets often must be ground and polished to
remove surface defects and scratch marks and to make
opposite sides parallel
 In pressing and blowing with split dies, polishing is often
used to remove seam marks from the product
 Cutting of continuous sections of tube and plate is done
by first scoring the glass with a glass‑cutting wheel and
then breaking the section along the score line
 Other Finishing Operations

 Decorative and surface processes performed on

certain glassware products include:
 Mechanical cutting and polishing operations
 Sandblasting
 Chemical etching (with hydrofluoric acid, often in
combination with other chemicals)
 Coating (e.g., coating of plate glass with
aluminum or silver to produce mirrors)
 Product Design
Considerations - I

 Glass is transparent and has optical properties that are

unusual if not unique among engineering materials
 For applications requiring transparency, light
transmittance, magnification, and similar optical
properties, glass is likely to be the material of
choice
 Certain polymers are transparent and may be
competitive, depending on design requirements
 Product Design
Considerations - II
 Glass is much stronger in compression than tension
 Components should be designed to be
subjected to compressive stresses, not tensile
stresses
 Glass is brittle
 Glass parts should not be used in applications
that involve impact loading or high stresses that
might cause fracture
 Product Design
Considerations - III
 Certain glass compositions have very low thermal
expansion coefficients and can tolerate thermal shock
 These glasses should be selected for applications
where this characteristic is important
 Design outside edges and corners with large radii and
inside corners with large radii, to avoid points of stress
concentration
 Threads may be included in glass parts
 However, the threads should be coarse