Manufacturing

of
Glass
 Glass
Glass is a supercooled liquid that is viscous enough to stay
rigid. Like less viscous liquids, glass has an amorphous,
noncrystalline physical structure. Its properties depend on
how different atoms and molecules interact within that
structure.
Glass
The most common glasses are the soda-lime glasses,
which are used to make most windows and bottles.
Other common glasses are borosilicate,
aluminosilicate, borate, lead, phosphate, halide and
metallic glasses. Other glass products include
ceramics and fiberglass.
Types of Glass
Glass is broadly categorized as either flat glass or
container glass. Flat glass is drawn, rolled or floated.
Half of all flat glass produced today is automotive glass.
Container glass is pressed, blown or pulled into molds
to make jars, bottles, drinking glasses and other vessels,
such as video display tubes.
Manufacturing Process of Glass
 Raw Materials in Manufacturing Glass
Sand
Good glass sand is over 99.5% silica (quartz). Silica, or silicon dioxide, is the most
common glass forming oxide and the base for most glasses. The next most common glass-
forming oxides are the oxides of boron and phosphorus.

Lime
Lime can be magnesium oxide, calcium oxide or a mixture of the two, depending on the
type of glass being made. Most lime for glassmaking is obtained from mined dolomite or
calcite. Lime is the most common glass modifier, used to make the glass easier to heat and
melt.
 Raw Materials in Manufacturing Glass
Soda Ash

Soda ash is sodium oxide, a common flux added to glass. Fluxes act on glass at
relatively low temperatures and improve its forming characteristics. Soda ash can
actually make glass soluble in water if enough stabilizers are not added.

Feldspar

Feldspar is a source of alumina, which is one of the most important stabilizers added to
glass. Glass stabilizers improve the resistance of the glass to chemicals, including water.
Many other stabilizers are also used in glass
 Raw Materials in Manufacturing Glass

Other Ingredients
Almost every stable element in the periodic table and many, many compounds are
added to glass for one reason or another. Elements commonly added to glass include
arsenic, antimony, barium, fluorine, iron and lead. Compounds commonly added to glass
include various oxides and sulfates. Even coke and blast furnace slag are added to glass.
Some of these ingredients make glass easier to prepare and process. Some improve its
consistency, strength, flexibility, optical characteristics, opacity, heat resistance,
insulating ability, chemical resistance, resistance to thermal shock and many other
properties. Metal oxides give glass color, e.g., selenium for red, chromium for green and
cobalt for blue
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Mixing
Raw materials for making glass are mixed in
batches, usually under computer control. Mixed
materials are then usually stored in silos for
distribution at the proper speed into the automated
glassmaking processes.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Melting
Glass melting furnaces melt the mixed raw materials to
enable working the molten glass into a finished product.
The batched raw materials pass from a mixing silo to a
five-chambered furnace where they become molten.
Temperatures in the furnace reach upto 1600°C.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Conditioning
Once the glass is melted, it must be conditioned before it can be
processed further. Glass conditioning furnaces (forehearths) are
usually separate compartments attached to the melting furnace.
These furnaces have their own temperature control system.
Conditioning makes the smaller amount of glass a uniform
temperature throughout and helps avoid imperfections called
blisters, seeds and stones.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Forming
The methods of forming, or shaping, depend
on the type of glass being made. There are three
common methods for forming flat glass and two
for forming glass containers.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass
Forming
• Flat Glass
Flat glass is drawn, rolled or floated. Two glass drawing processes are the Fourcault process and the
Colburn process. In the Fourcault process, drawing rolls pull a vertical ribbon of glass through a kiln,
called a débiteuse. Still traveling vertically, the glass passes through an annealing lehr and is cut to
appropriate lengths. The Colburn process is similar to the Fourcault process except that the glass is
bent to the horizontal right after drawing.
Rolled glass is also called plate glass. Forming rolls continuously roll molten glass into a horizontal
ribbon. The ribbon is cooled, annealed, ground, polished and inspected. After all other processing is
complete, it is cut to the desired size.
Float glass is the newest type of flat glass. In this process, molten glass floats over a bath of liquid
tin in a nitrogen atmosphere with some hydrogen. Electrodes in the float enclosure heat and fire polish
the glass before it leaves the chamber. Floating molten glass this way produces a very high quality
surface that needs only limited grinding or polishing.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass
Forming
• Container Glass
Glass containers are made by pressing, blowing or pulling molten clumps of glass, called gobs, into
molds. A combination of these methods can also be used. Two common machines for making glass
containers are the Owens machine and the Individual Section (I.S.) machine.
The Owens machine is a large, nonmoving central cylinder with 10 to 15 processing units on a
rotating perimeter. Each unit performs a different step. The Owens machine is cam driven and rotates
the bottles through the appropriate work stations.
The I.S. machine is the most modern and most common machine for making glass containers. Each
unit on an I.S. machine performs all the steps needed to make a bottle. Instead of having the machine
travel to the gob, the gob is delivered to the machine. Each unit on the machine can be individually
timed, and when units are inactivated, the remaining units on that machine can keep running.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Annealing
Glass is annealed in furnaces called lehrs. Annealing
removes the strain glass undergoes when solidifying. If this
strain is not removed, the glass products will break very
easily. Flat glass is annealed after it is drawn, rolled or
floated and before it is cut. Glass containers are annealed
after they are formed.
 Manufacturing Process of Glass

Tempering
Glass is greatly strengthened by being heated in a
tempering furnace, then cooled in a specified manner. The
tempering process introduces compressive forces at the glass
surface that counterbalance the tension in the central layers
of the glass. This balancing of forces within the glass makes
it very strong