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Glass has been one of the important engineering
materials used by man since ancient times. With
the advances made in the glass industry in
recent times, it has become the most versatile
engineering material for use in both domestic
and modern, industrial and laboratory
applications. Glass is chemically stable in the
environment. It has an excellent property to
resist attack by water vapor, CO2, and bacterial
and plant organisms. Plate glass is used for
windows in buildings, ships, automobile,
locomotive cars, and microwave ovens. It is
used in decorative toys to astronomical mirrors
and telescopes to microscope.
ð
  
ðttractive looks.

Chemical stability towards

environment.

Nonporosity.

Transparent nature.
 Conventionally, plate glass cutting is usually done
by using a diamond point tool. Researcher have
developed other glass cutting methods such as laser
and abrasive water jet.
Disadvantages of cutting glass using diamond tool
is marking and scribing on the glass surface should by
made as per desired profile with extreme skill and the
cut surface obtained is always irregular, wavy and with
poor surface finish.
Even though laser cutting of glass has some
advantages it possess some disadvantages also.
The initial capital investment is required for laser cutting
systems and it leave a heat affected zone in the cut
edge which produce local thermal stress.
Water jet cutting does not produce heat affected
zone but cost of equipment ,cost of power,
abrasive material is high and nozzles should be
replaced frequently due to wear.
 
     

  

wl.no. Cutting method Disadvantages

1. Diamond point tool Time consuming process,
Difficult to maintain close tolerance,
More wastage of material,
Non straight profiles cannot be cut in a single
step

2. Laser cutting Very high initial capital equipment,

Microcracks at the cut surface,
Evaporation and resolidification at the cut
Edge, leaves heat affected zone.

3. ðbrasive water jet Very high initial capital equipment,

cutting wurface finish varies with the cutting speed
Nozzle wear, requires de-ionized high
pressure water.
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In this method, the hot air jet (200-2800C)
issuing from a nozzle is impinged on the plate
glass to be cut. The hot air jet or the X-Y
coordinate table, on which the plate glass is
placed, can be moved at the required speed.
ðny complex profile could be easily and
economically generated in a single step by this
method.
 
       


The method of hot air cutting of plate consists of
(a) ð crack initiation at the scribed glass edge,
and
(b) Propagation of the crack in glass owing to
thermal stresses set up by hot air jet.

The scratch at the starting edge act as a region of

stress concentration, hence the glass will break
or fail at that region.
ãeating a moving plate by a stationary hot air
jet causes thermal stresses in glass due to
nonuniform heating. The localized regions on the
glass surface below the jet expand due to
heating, the posterior region of the crack tip
experiences a fall in temperature resulting in
contraction of the expanded element and hence
the crack advances at the tip. The crack
propagation is quicker if the posterior crack tip
region is subjected to a wet environment. This is
due to acceleration of contraction.
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The thermal energy input is required to induce thermal
stress . The thermal energy input depends on the air
flow rate and its temperature.
The thermal energy input required varies with the
thickness and the composition of the glass to be cut.
Increasing the air pressure and temperature favour the
cutting process.
The nozzle diameter also plays a important role on the
pattern of thermal energy input, thereby influencing the
cutting process. The nozzle of smaller diameter gives a
finer air jet and hence, the cutting process is effective
and quicker and vice versa.
 
      


It is impossible to cut interior holes. The
cutting process has to start at the glass
edge.
It requires scratch for quick crack initiation.
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The glass cutting making use of hot air jet is
simple and cheaper than other processes and
can produce nonstraight profile and can
successfully cut plate glass in the thickness range
of 2-20mm.
It is a noncontact process and hence the
process is clean and wafe. The surface finish of
the cut section is smoother than those obtained
by the diamond tool and water jet cutting. No
microcracks is developed at the cut edge. The
process can be computerized.