GLASS

History of glass
 Glass is that mysterious translucent substance of
what is essentially super-heated silica sand.
 Although details about the history of glass and
glass making are still disputed, the earliest use of
glass was undoubtedly that of the natural glass
called obsidian.
 Obsidian is a natural byproduct of volcanic
eruptions and it was prized by prehistoric
societies the world over for its shiny black,
orange, gray or green beauty, its sharp edges,
and its workability.
History of glass
 Important dates in the History of Glass
~4500 B.C. to 3000 B.C. Glass first used in Egypt and Mesopotamia
~1500 B.C. First glass vessels made in Egypt
~200 B.C. Glass blowing invented in the near East
~600 A.D. Stained glass windows introduced in Constantinople
1674 A.D. Lead crystal invented by George Ravenscroft in England
1688 A.D. Cast plate glass-France
1690 A.D. First glassworks in Ireland
1827 A.D. Glass pressed into moulds-U.S.A.
1851 A.D. Crystal Palace built in London-first prefabricated building of iron
and glass
1874 A.D. Glass toughened by oil quenching -France
1886 A.D. First semi-automated bottle maker -England
1903 A.D. First automatic bottle making machine invented by Michael
Owens, an Irishman, in the U.S.A.
1903 A.D. Chance discovery of laminated glass by Benedictus in France
1915 A.D. Invention of borosilicate glass in the U.S.A.
1937 A.D. Photosensitive glass invented by Dalton in the U.S.A.
1957 A.D. Glass ceramic made by accident by Stookey in the U.S.A.
1959 A.D. Float glass process for plate glass introduced by Pilkingtons in
the U.K.
Glass Production
 Glass products are produced by several
basic processes;
 Blowing by mouth: for antique glasses and
by machine for bottles
 Drawing ordinary sheet glass or window
 Grinding and polishing for rough cast glass
Glass Production
 Today, the main process are:
 Rolling for rough cast and patterned
glasses
 Floating to give parallel and flat surfaces
so that vision is not distorted
 Pressing for lenses, hollow glass blocks etc
Glass Properties
 Appearance
 Ordinary glass is transparent and more or
less colourless.

 Density
 2560nkg/m3. For comparison: Perspex
807, aluminium 2771, steel 7850.
 Glass weighs 2.5 kg/m2 per/mm thickness
Glass Properties
 Melting point
 1500°C approx (Aluminium 660, Steel
1900°C)

 Solar heat transmission

 Ordinary glass is relatively transparent but
solar heat rejecting glasses are availabe
Glass Properties
 Appearance
 Ordinary glass is transparent and more or
less colourless.

 Density
 2560nkg/m3. For comparison: Perspex
807, aluminium 2771, steel 7850.
 Glass weighs 2.5 kg/m2 per/mm thickness
Glass Properties
 Durability
 Glass is extremely durable in normal condition
 However, can be attacked by hydrofluoric and
phosphoric acids and by strong alkalis (caustic
soda)
 Affected also by alkaline paint removers which
are not properly cleaned off
 Can be damaged by permanents condensation in
unventilated cavities between sheets of glass
 (continue next week)
Glass Properties
 Strength properties
 Required to resist loads including wind loads,
impact by persons and animals, thermal and
other stress
 Safety and security from injury
 The breaking of glass presents a serious potential
hazard in building.
 The critical locations, where the hazard is the
greatest, the glass should either:
 1) break safety
 2) be robust or in small panels
 3) be permanently protected
 Thermal movement
 Because the coefficient of thermal
movement for glass is lower than that of
the materials which it normally fixed,
allowance should be made for movement
 Thermal stresses arising where one part of
a glass pane is at a different temperature
from the other part that can lead to
breakage
 Thermal Insulation
 Double glazing glass provides better thermal
insulation from conducted heat than single
glazing

 Sound insulation
 Sound reduction values is depend on various
weights of glass and types of windows.
 Sealed double glazing is therefore necessary for a
good thermal insulation
 Behaviour in fire
 Although non-combustible, ordinary glass
breaks and later melts in fires, and double
glazing shows no significant advantage
over single glazing.
 Glass is good conductor of heat and
radiation from glass can ignite any
combustible material
Glass making

Free Blowing
This method uses a long pipe usually made from clay, the glass is
collected at one end and from other end it air is blow by a person.
GLASS
 Types of glass
 There are a number of different types of
glass, in a range of patterns and tints, and
it is important to decide which is most
suited for a particular job.
 'Ordinary' sheet glass
 This glass is made by passing the molten glass through
rollers; this process gives an almost flat finish but the
effects of the rollers upon the molten glass makes some
distortion inevitable.
 The glass can be used in domestic windows etc. but the
relatively low cost of float glass (with its lack of distortion)
has tended to restrict ordinary sheet glass to glazing
greenhouses and garden sheds where the visual distortions
do not matter.
 Sheet glass can be cut a glass cutter and no special
equipment is necessary. The glass is often available in
standard sizes to suit 'standard' glasshouses, these sizes
tend to be comparatively cheaper than glass cut to size.
 Energy efficient glass
 Some manufacturers produce float glass with a
special thin coating on one side which, allows the
suns energy to pass through in one direction
while reducing the thermal transfer the other
way.
 The special coating often gives a very slight
brown or grey tint to the glass. The coating is not
very robust and would not last very long if
subjected to normal cleaning or external weather
conditions - for these reasons, this type of glass
is normally only used in sealed double (or triple)
glazed units with the special coating on the
inside.
 Toughened (Safety glass)
 Toughened glass is produced by applying a special
treatment to ordinary float glass after it has been cut to
size and finished.
 The treatment involves heating the glass so that it begins
to soften (about 620 degrees C) and then rapidly cooling it.
This produces a glass which, if broken, breaks into small
pieces without sharp edges.
 The treatment does increase the surface tension of the
glass which can cause it to 'explode' if broken; this is more
a dramatic effect than hazardous.
 It is important to note that the treatment must be applied
only after all cutting and processing has been completed,
as once 'toughened', any attempt to cut the glass will
cause it to shatter.
 Toughened glass is ideal for glazed doors, low level
windows (for safety) and for tabletops (where it can
withstand high temperature associated with cooking pots
etc.
 Wired glass
 Wired glass incorporates a wire mesh (usually
about 10mm spacing) in the middle of the glass.
Should be glass crack or break, the wire tends to
hold the glass together.
 It is ideal for roofing in such areas as a garage or
conservatory where its 'industrial' look is not too
unattractive.
 Wired glass is generally not considered a Safety
glass as the glass still breaks with sharp edges.
 Wired glass is available as clear or obscured
 Mirrors
 Mirrors are usually made from float glass 4-6mm
thick, and silvered on one side. Mirrors are
available for use without a surrounding frame,
these usually are made from a type of safety
glass. Old mirrors, and modern mirrors supplied
within a frame, should not be used unframed as
any damage to them might cause the glass to
shatter dangerously.
 Tinted Glass
 It is a normal float-clear glass into whose melt
colorants are added for tinting and solar-radiation
absorption properties. This reduces heat
penetration in buildings. Coloured glass
is an important architectural element
for the exterior appearance of facades.
 The inclusion of metal oxides creates tinted glass
in a range of colors (bronze, grey, blue, green),
but some manufacturers have slightly different
formulations and tint colors. In general
the bronze and grey colors are similar
but the others can vary and may not be able
to be matched.
 Reflective & Coated Glass
 This is an ordinary float glass with a metallic
coating to reduce solar heat. This special metallic
coating also produces a mirror effect, preventing
the subject from seeing through the glass.
It is mainly used in facades.
 Insulating Glass Units
 Insulating glass is a multi-glass combination
consisting of two or more panes enclosing
a hermetically-sealed air space.
 The most important function of insulation glass
is to reduce thermal losses, which offers many
advantages: lower energy consumption, perfect
transparency by reducing the incidence
of condensation on the warm air side
and the possibility of using larger glazed areas
without increasing energy consumption.
 Sand-blasted glass
 This is produced by spraying sand at high
velocities over the surface of the glass. This gives
the glass a translucent surface, which is  usually
rougher than that obtained by etching.
 During sandblasting, only the areas that
are to remain transparent are masked
for protection. The depth and degree
of the translucency of the sand-blasted finishing
vary with the force and type of sand used.
 Sand-blasted glass can be used in numerous
interior design applications in both residential
and commercial settings: doors, shower screens,
partitions and interior screens, furniture, etc
Float glass
 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. Float glass is more commonly known as
window glass. Because it is inexpensive and
sometimes free, it is often used in the glass
fusing process.
 The molten glass spreads onto the surface of the
metal and produces a high quality, consistently
level sheet of glass that is later heat polished.
The glass has no wave or distortion and is now
the standard method for glass production; over
90% of the world production of flat glass is float
glass.
Float glass
Float glass
Float glass
 Float glass production process
 1. Batching of raw materials:
 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.
Float glass
 2. Melting of raw materials in the furnace:
 The batched raw materials pass from a mixing silo to a
five-chambered furnace where they become molten at
a temperature of approximately 1500°C.

 3. Drawing the molten glass onto the tin bath:

 The molten glass is "floated" onto a bath of molten tin
at a temperature of about 1000°C. It forms a ribbon
with a working width of 3210mm which is normally
between 3 and 25mm 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.
Melting of raw materials in the furnace
Melting of raw materials in the furnace
Drawing the molten glass onto the tin bath
Float glass
 4. Cooling of the molten glass in the annealing
lehr:
 On leaving the bath of molten tin, the glass - now
at a temperature of 600°C - 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 cut and worked in a
predictable way and ensuring flatness of the
glass.
 As both surfaces are fire finished, they need no
grinding or polishing.
Cooling of the molten glass in the annealing lehr
Float glass production line -Cold end
Float glass
 5. Quality checks, automatic cutting, and storage:
 After cooling, the glass undergoes rigorous quality
checks and is washed. It is then cut into sheets of
sizes of up to 6000mm x 3210mm which are in
turn stacked, stored and ready for transport.

 Applications
 Float glass is used for glazing wherever full
transparency is required in buildings.
 It is used as a base material for safety glass,
reflective glass 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.
Coated glass production line