Assignment 2

Calculate batch composition of a glass with composition of

• SiO2-72%; NA2O-16%; CaO-10% and Al2O3-2%.
• Cullet with composition SiO2-75%; Na2O-15%, CaO-9.5% and
Al2O3-0.5%.
The raw materials to be used are
• Glass sand (99%SiO2)
• Soda ash (99% Na2CO3)
• Feldspar with composition 65%SiO2, 20%Al2O3 and 15% Na2O
and limestone
Cullet to be used 20%.
 Different types of defects in glass
• Defects are generally produced in glass when the melting process or
raw materials are not correct.
• Defects may also be produced during manufacturing process.
• Common defects in glass and glass wares are given below:
Defects produced during melting process or due to incorrect raw
materials:
1. Gas inclusions: blisters, bubbles and seeds
2. Vitreous inclusion :Cords, striae
3. Crystalline inclusions: batch stone, devitrification stone, refractory stone
4. Undesirable colours
Defects produced during manufacturing process ( bad workmanship):
mold marks, bad shape, wrinkles, bad polish, pressing strain, cracks,
variation in dimension in different positions etc.
Gas inclusions:
▪ When all the raw materials have been melted down and mutual
solution of liquid phases has taken place, there remains a large
amount of gaseous inclusions in the melt in form of bubble, seed and
blisters.
▪ ‘seeds’ as referred to by the glass makers very small bubble or less
than 0.4mm diameter.
▪ Bubbles and seeds are spherical, blister is associated with the larger
inclusions and has its own characteristics shape.
▪ Although blister can be produced mechanically malfunctioning of
equipment used during forming process, its occurrence related to the
fining of glass is often connected with release of gas from saturated
melt.
• Gas inclusions

Bubbles
Seeds

Blisters
How gas inclusions occur?
Gas inclusions may result from
o Decomposition of batch materials: generally, glass batch are made
up of carbonates, nitrates, sulphates etc.. These molecules
decompose during melting and evolve CO2, O2, N2, NO and SO2.
Besides these water vapor from boric acid, hydrated Al2O3, NaOH,
H3PO4 may also be present.
o Air entrapped in the batch: air is generally entrapped within the
granular materials. Finer the batch material, more air will be
entrapped.
o From reaction between molten glass and refractory surfaces: closed
pores in the refractory may produce seed when they are opened
during the reaction with the molten glass.
How the gas inclusions can be removed?
• Gas inclusions in the glass melt can be removed by
• By raising the bubbles to the surface of the melt
• By dissolving in the melt.
During melting various methods are used for this purpose:
• Volatile materials or refining agents may be introduced in the batch so that
the bubble generated by these materials will carry the small seeds to
coalescence.
• If a bubble of 1cm dia takes 1 min to rise through a certain depth of glass, it
will take 1000min for a seed of 0.01cm diameter.
• Viscosity of the melt can be reduced by increasing temperature to
accelerate rate of rise of bubbles.
• Few numbers of seeds in melt may never reach the surface, they may
dissolve in the glass melt.
 Vitreous inclusions
• This is inhomogeneity in glass. Inhomogeity are distinguished by
differences in chemical composition which that cause variation in RI
and density.
• Refractory corrosion and preferential volatilization of some
components in glass make significant contribution to formation of
vitreous inhomogeneity.
• Differences in density due to higher atomic weight of some
component will produce inhomogeneity during melting. This
high-density liquid will settle at the bottom of the tank or pot.
• Detection of vitreous inclusion can be by measuring RI at different
position of the same melt. In case of extreme inhomogeneity,
detection can be done by visual inspection. One can also see the
inhomogeneity from the stress pattern provided the glass is properly
annealed.
• Striae and Cord are the commonly used glass-in-glass defect in glass
industry which can be described as two-dimensional layers and
one-dimensional veins respectively of a composition present within a
glass of slightly different composition.
• Streaks of glass having a composition different from the main body of
glass is known as cords and when they expand into two dimensions,
they are commonly referred to as striae.
• ‘Scale’ is used to describe the thickness of inhomogeneity ‘intensity’
measures differences in properties of striae and the surrounding
glass.
Removal of vitreous inclusion requires stirring by refractory or
platinum stirrer during melting.
Due to temperature gradient in the furnace, a convection flow of melt
occurs which causes internal mixing of the melt to some extent.
Cord Striae
Causes of cordy glass:
Raw materials with variable composition, particle size with too fine,
mix up during unloading, use of poor-quality cullet, fluctuation of
moisture content and material put in wrong bin.
Batch composition: wrong batch composition, segregation of batch
composition, inaccurate weighing of batch ingredients, method of
feeding batch into the furnace and feeding batch at a rate exceeding
melting capacity.
Faulty furnace operation
Defective equipment and faulty operation.
 Crystalline inclusions
• The word ‘stone’ is usually applied to include crystalline inclusions
present in the glass
• Stones that arise from batch material and batch handling process are
known as batch stone. This may arise from batch if grains size of the
materials is too large.
• For example, if the sand grains are too large and melting time is
short, some of the quartz grains will not dissolve completely and may
appear in relatively opaque crystalline condition.
• Common stones arising from normal batch materials are quartz,
cristobalite, tridymite, albite/anorthite.
• Common stones derived from batch contaminants are zircon, garnet,
chromite etc.
• From furnace refractory as refractory stone: they have their origin
from refractories due to direct attack by the molten glass or volatile
components.
• It can also be from furnace superstructure due to falling.
From devitrification or crystallization as devitrification stones:
devitrification stone arises due to nucleation process and crystal
growth in the molten glass below liquidus temp.
Common types of devitrification stones are tridymite, cristobalite.
Stone defects can be identified by visual or hand lens inspection or by
polarizing microscope.
 Undesirable color
• Undesirable color/ bad color becomes a defect in case of high-quality
glassware.
• In window and plate glass and in most bottles precise control of
decolorization or color is not necessary.
• The importance of and the method of decolorizing a glass depend
entirely upon the ultimate use of the glass.
• For example, some glasses such as window glass need not
decolorized whereas milk bottle glass is usually decolorized to
produce desired effect.
• In tableware, a comparatively slight variation from bright to a visible
tint of green or violet, or a variation in some of more delicate color
employed, often turns a large portion of the product into bad ware.
Different colored glass
Table ware Glass