By,

Aaman Daredia Joseph Chakkery Alan Fernandes.

Silica ( SiO2 ) Soda Lime Cullets ( 25 % Broken Glass)

For Certain Glass Types: Metallic Oxides to add a colour tint. Mg and Al to increase resistance to atmospheric agents.

Float glass Manufacture

Blown glass Manufacture

Float glass is sheet glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten tin. This method gives the glass uniform thickness and a very flat surface. The molten glass spreads on the surface of the metal and produce a high quality, consistently level sheet of glass that is later heat polished. The glass has nowave distortion and is now the standard method for glass production; over 90% of the world production of flat glass is float glass.

Batching of Raw Materials. Melting of Raw Materials in the Furnace. Drawing the molten glass onto the Tin Bath. Cooling of the molten glass in the Annealing Lher. Q uality checks,automating cutting and storage.

The main components,namely,soda lime glass, silica sand (73%) ,calcium oxide (9%) ,soda (13%) and magnesium(4%), are weighed and mixed into batches to which recycled glass (cullet) is added. The use of cullet reduces the consumption of natural gas. The materials are tested and stored for later mixing under computerised control.

The batched raw materials pass from a mixing silo to a five-chambered furnace where they become molten at a temperature of approximately 1500C.

The molten glass is floated" onto a bath of molten tin at a temperature of about 1000C. It forms a ribbon with a working width of 3210 mm which is normally between 3 and 25 mm thick. The glass which is highly viscous and the tin which is very fluid do not mix and the contact surface between these two materials is perfectly flat.

On leaving the bath of molten tin, the glassnow at a temperature of 600C - has cooled down sufficiently to pass to an annealing chamber called a lehr. The glass is now hard enough to pass over rollers and is annealed, which modifies the internal stresses enabling it to be cu and worked in a predictable way and ensuring flatness of the glass. As both surfaces are fire finished, they need no grinding or polishing.

After cooling, the glass undergoes rigorous quality checks and is washed. It is then cut into sheets of sizes of up to 6000 mm x 3210 mm which are in turn stacked, stored and ready for transport.

Float glass is used for glazing wherever full transparency is required in buildings. It is used as a base material for safety glass, reflective and self-cleaning glass, among others. It can be used in precision mechanics, especially where extreme surface flatness is required. E.g., for visual displays.

Melting and refining Float bath Blowing Annealing Inspection

A ball of melted glass is placed on the end of a hollow iron tube. Air is then blow n into the tube to shape the glass on the other end. Air can be blown in manually or by machine. The glass is reheated often during this process so that it stays pliable. When the glass blower is finished with the piece, it is allowed to cool and is then broken free from the blowing tube.

Borosilicate Glass Commercial Glass Glass Ceramics Glass fibre Lead glass Optical glass Bulletproof glass

Most of us are more familiar with this type of glass in the form of ovenware and other heat-resisting ware, better known under the trade name Pyrex. Borosilicate glass, the third major group, is made mainly of silica (7080%) and boric oxide (7-13%) with smaller amounts of the alkalis (sodium and potassium oxides) and aluminium oxide. This type of glass has a relatively low alkali content and consequently has good chemical durability and thermal shock resistance (it doesn't break when changing temperature q uickly.)

Most of the glass we see around us in our everyday lives in the form of bottles and jars, flat glass for windows or for drinking glasses is known as commercial glass or soda-lime glass, as soda ash is used in its manufacture.

Some of these "Glass ceramics", formed typically from lithium aluminosilicate glass, are extremely resistant to thermal shock and have found several applications where this property is important, including cooker hobs, cooking ware, windows for gas or coal fires, mirror substrates for astronomical telescopes and missile nose cones.

Commonly known as lead crystal, lead glass is used to make a wide variety of decorative glass objects.It is made by using lead oxide instead of calcium oxide, and potassium oxide instead of all or most of the sodium oxide. Lead glass has a high refractive index making it sparkle brightly and a relatively soft surface so that it is easy to decorate by grinding, cutting and engraving which highlights the crystal's brilliance making it popular for glasses, decanters and other decorative objects

Optical glasses will be found in scientific instruments, microscopes, fighter aircraft and most commonly in spectacles.

Bullet-resistant glass is a type of strong but optically transparent material that is particularly resistant to being penetrated when struck by bullets, but is not completely impenetrable. Bullet-resistant glass is usually constructed using polycarbonate, thermoplastic, and layers of laminated glass. It is made from layers of polycarbonate (a tough type of plastic), sandwiched in between pieces of toughened glass. This sandwich of layers is called a laminate.