How is opaque sand made into transparent glass? What is glass made of

Each of us has met glass more than once. Any student knows what this fragile and transparent material is. We see it every day in mirrors, windows, dishes and furniture, but do we know it well? How is it produced, what is it and what are the properties of glass?

What does this word mean

There are many reference materials that can help in this matter. What is the meaning of the word "glass" according to one of the most popular sources? Ozhegov's dictionary characterizes this substance as solid material, obtained from quartz sand mixed with oxides of certain metals. Even the definition gives some idea of how the material is produced. But we will come to this topic later.

Surely everyone is used to the fact that glass is a transparent material. But pay attention - Ozhegov's dictionary does not give such a clarification. Glass can be not only transparent, but also colored or frosted. But the composition of the material differs insignificantly.

What is glass made of

The standard composition of glass is a mixture of pure lime and soda. To change the properties of the material can be used various additives. But still, the main component is precisely pure river sand. Its amount is approximately 75% of the entire mixture. Soda allows you to reduce the sand by almost 2 times. Lime protects the glass from the effects of most chemical substances and also adds strength and shine.

Additional impurities:

Manganese. It is added to glass to obtain a specific green tint. Nickel or chrome can be used for other colors.
Lead gives the glass extra shine and a characteristic ringing. The material is colder to the touch. Glass with an admixture of lead is called crystal.
Boric acid oxide also gives the material additional shine and transparency, while lowering the coefficient thermal expansion products.

History of glass production

Even 6000 years ago, people were able to create this beautiful and fragile material. Of course, its appearance was somewhat different from modern glass, since in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia did not have equipment for high-quality sand cleaning and other tools. Nevertheless, the production of glass began there. Due to impact resistance environment this material gave historians an idea of the culture and technical capabilities of the most ancient peoples.

In Russia, the first glass factory appeared in 1636. It was located near Moscow. Crockery was created there and this branch of industry received great development under Peter I.

It wasn't until 1859 that the invention of the high-pressure pump made it possible to create glass without the participation of glassblowers. This greatly simplified production. And at the beginning of the 19th century, an interesting property of the material was discovered - if the finished product is heated to a certain temperature, the mechanical properties of glass will increase by 400%.

Modern production

Technology has stepped far forward, which made it possible to create any materials in huge quantities and at the lowest cost. human strength. Currently, there are many factories where glass is created using a standard, well-established technology. What modern material, obtained from molten quartzite sand, we learn by familiarizing ourselves with the technology. Let's take sheet metal as an example.

Glass production by stages:

All the necessary ingredients are loaded into the oven and heated until a liquid homogeneous mass is formed.
In a special homogenizer, this alloy is mixed until a homogeneous state.
The resulting mass is poured into a flat container, at the bottom of which is molten tin. There, the glass is distributed, forming a uniform thin layer.
The cooled and hardened material is sent to the conveyor. There, glass thickness control and cutting are carried out. Material that does not pass the test, as well as defective parts, are sent for remelting.
The last quality check is carried out, after which the glass is delivered to the finished product warehouse.

Glass types

Currently, this material is one of the most common. Not surprisingly, there are different types of glass, differing in both appearance, as well as physical properties. Here are some of them:

Crystal glass. It is a material containing lead. We talked about it above.
It contains the purest sand, due to which it is highly durable. Able to withstand temperature fluctuations, therefore it is used to create optical instruments, laboratory glassware and windows.
Foam glass. Lightweight building material that can be used both for decoration and for laying walls and floors. It contains a large number of voids, due to which it has high heat and sound insulation properties.
Glass wool. Volume air material, consisting of thin and very strong threads. It is fire resistant, therefore it is used not only in construction, but also in tailoring firefighters and welders.

Glass Application

Depending on the properties and appearance, almost any application can be found for this material. The main consumer of glass produced in our time is the construction industry. It uses more than half of the material produced. Its purpose can be very diverse - wall cladding, window glazing, building walls from hollow bricks, thermal insulation, etc. The construction area can also be attributed to What is a Gothic window, everyone knows for sure. As a rule, it is lined with a large number of colored glass pieces. Nowadays, stained-glass windows have not lost their relevance and are used both in construction and in furniture production.

In second place in popularity are glass vessels for various purposes. Slightly less tableware is produced. It should be noted that glass is an indispensable material in the chemical industry, since it is resistant to most reagents.

Physical properties

Like any other material, glass has a number of qualities that you need to know before using it in a particular area.

Density. It may vary depending on the composition of the mixture and the method of manufacture. The glass density value can vary from 220 to 650 kg/m 3 .
Fragility. This feature is distinctive feature glass and limits its use in the construction industry. Currently, scientists are creating more complex alloys that maximize the strength of the material.
Thermal resistance. Ordinary glass can withstand temperatures up to 90 ° C. After processing, the thermal properties of the material increase significantly. For example, industrial glass can withstand temperatures in excess of 200°C.

We learned a lot about glass - what it is, how it is produced and what properties it has. It's time to take a break and get to know the most interesting facts about this very common material. Few people know that:

The speed of crack movement along is 4828 km/h.
The decay time of this material is approximately one million years.
Glass can be remelted repeatedly with virtually no loss of quality. In this regard, he has almost no analogues.
Being an amorphous material, molten glass will not solidify when cooled rapidly. This requires special conditions.

Glass is not in vain so actively used in construction and other areas of human life. Surely it will remain one of the most popular materials for a long time to come. This statement is supported by the strength, durability and relative ease of manufacturing glass, due to the fact that the components for its creation are present on Earth in large quantities.

Such a thing as glass surrounds us everywhere: windows in a house or a car, aquariums, dishes, decor items, retorts and beakers in industry and medicine, even watches have it. Interesting Facts:

It takes a million years for glass to decompose.
During processing, glass retains all its qualities.
The thickest sheet of glass is the screen aquariums in Sydney. Its thickness is 26 cm.

Modern production technologies make it possible to obtain glass with the most different characteristics and qualities:

Household. It is used in Everyday life: crockery, glasses, decorative items.
Technical. It is a very dense glass used in heavy industry.
Construction. Showcases, stained-glass windows, windows are made from it.
Bulletproof. It is used to improve the safety of buildings, cars, etc.

Today, looking at a tiny watch dial, we can think: which glass is better sapphire or mineral. We can choose materials of various shades for finishing our windows: blue, red, green or no color at all. Buy a matte white strict vase or a colorful bright freeform product from professional glassblowers. It is even strange for such popularity that very few people think of the question, how is glass made? What is needed for this?

What is glass made of

Not only the manufacturing process itself is curious, but also what glass is made of. There are usually only three ingredients at the base, and each of them has its own role in the creation process:

Quartz sand is the base. Its melting point is 1700⁰С.
Soda. It helps to reduce the melting point of sand by half and significantly simplify the manufacturing process.
Lime. This component is essential for waterproofing. If it were not there, then we would not be able to put flowers in a vase, we would not drink tea from a glass, since water would simply dissolve such an alloy.

Glass making is a rather hot, laborious and dangerous process. First, all components are mixed and melted in a special furnace. After the grains of sand combine with each other, turning into a homogeneous mass, it is sent to a bath of molten tin (its temperature is above 1000⁰С). The glass mixture will float on the surface due to the difference in density of the materials. The less mass there is in the tin container, the thinner the sample will be. After that, the blanks are cooled on a special conveyor.

Curious in history:

One of the oldest glass particles dates back to the 21st century. BC. Blue transparent raw glass has been found in southern Mesopotamia. Glassmaking was also practiced in Syria, Egypt and Phoenicia.
For many centuries, glass from Venice was considered the most expensive. The masters produced unusually thin and beautiful products: dishes, jewelry, mirrors, costing fabulous money. For a very long time, Venice was a glass monopoly, and the secrets of craftsmanship were jealously kept. In the 13th century, production was even transferred to the island of Murano, and the craftsmen were forbidden to leave it under pain of death. Despite this, glassmakers were a special, rich and privileged caste. An unheard-of thing for that time: having married the daughter of such a master, the guy moved to his wife's family!
One of the world leaders in production today is China, it controls a third of the world market. And in the period from the 14th to the 19th century, the country did not produce glass at all.

As long as there is glass, there are varieties of it, differing in color. What is blue, green or red glass made of? What allows you to change the shade of the material to create a beautiful stained glass window, vase or sculpture? It's all about adding various chemical compounds, most often oxides:

The red color is imparted by the addition of iron oxide.
Violet and brown shades (it all depends on the amount) - nickel.
The bright yellow color is uranium.
Shades of green - chrome and copper.
Intense blue - cobalt.

By the way, another oxide - this time aluminum oxide is used to produce sapphire glass for watches. It is very hard, you can only scratch it with a diamond!

Glass is an interesting and amazing material that is essential in many aspects of life.

By tradition, we invite you to watch an exciting video on how glass is made.

Every day using glass objects, almost no one thinks about what this material is obtained from. How are sometimes amazingly beautiful interior items made? How is glass made? Why does sunlight freely enter the room through the window? How do certain types of glass not break even when hit hard?

Production technology

The main material for the manufacture of glass is quartz sand. Yes, the very one that is strewn with sandy beaches and on which you can walk barefoot with pleasure in the summer.

The production of glass begins with the fact that the amount of the smallest quartz accurately measured on electronic scales is heated to a temperature of over 1500 degrees C. The grains of sand melt, forming a homogeneous mass. Soda ash and limestone are added to them in small quantities. For what purpose?

The soda ash acts as a kind of catalyst in this process and causes the sand to melt at a lower temperature, approximately 850 degrees C. This reduces the energy costs of production. But soda is not used without limestone. This fact is explained simply: molten sand and soda ash, when solidified, form a substance that is easily soluble in water (not best material for the production of household items). Magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide and boric acid are also added here. As well as a number of substances that prevent the formation of air bubbles in the mass.

After all the components are brought to a certain temperature, a sharp cooling follows - this will prevent the grains of sand from returning to their original form.

glass rainbow

Crushed quartz (sand) in its natural form contains a small impurity of iron, which gives finished products a light green tint. In order to make the material transparent, selenium is added to it. This substance gives off reddish tones, but when mixed with iron, the glass surface turns colorless. And what is glass of various shades made of, and sometimes not even monophonic, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow?

To give the material color, metal oxides are added to the heated mixture. Cobalt will give rich blue colors. The product will sparkle with purple hues if manganese is added during the manufacturing process, and green will be obtained from a mixture of chromium and iron. For sunny yellow colors will suit chromium oxide, for emerald green - oxides of chromium and copper. Which components are added depends on the purpose of the glass plant.

The secret of strength

The next process after staining is the crystallization of the mixture. It is otherwise called the homogenizing process. As a result, all air bubbles, streaks and other inconsistencies that may further affect the quality of products are removed.

After homogenization, the future glass is delivered to a tank with molten tin at a temperature of about 1000 degrees C. Since tin has more high density, the liquid glass mass is on its surface. Where it becomes perfectly smooth, it cools a little, acquiring hardness. At the next stage, the mass, which has cooled in the tank to 600 degrees C, is transferred to a roller conveyor. Here, based on the rules of how glass is made with high level quality, it is until the temperature drops to 250 degrees C. The duration of the process is explained by the need for uniform gradual cooling, in order to avoid premature cracks.

Unique waste-free production

At the end of the conveyor, a device is installed that controls the quality of the finished material, and at the slightest flaw, the glass is sent for remelting with a new prepared mixture. After passing the quality control, finished sheets of the desired format are cut and sent either to the warehouse or for further processing. It all depends on the purpose of the product.

The residues after cutting are again put into the mixture for remelting. All rejected material is also launched there. Based on how glass is made, it is safe to say that this production is waste-free.

Kinds

Due to their chemical and physical properties glass is divided according to several criteria:

by appointment (household needs, industrial use, construction);
by type of processing (chemical, mechanical and special technologies);
according to the surface texture (matte, glossy, coated with various metals, with and without a film coating).

There is no clear division into categories. When classifying, they proceed from the technology and how glass is made. The end result can be a multi-layer surface with machined edges or a product with a high level of light transmission, cold-cut. Worth noting that separate parameter quality is the level of light transmission. There is no glass with a 100% level, for domestic use it is 82%. In high-tech products: microscopes, telescopes, various lenses and precision instruments - this figure is over 90%.

In the last 10 years, glass industry products have been in high demand. Souvenir products, furniture, window and door components, dishes, various containers, etc. are made from glass. However, in order for the manufactured goods to find their consumer, it is necessary to correctly select the production technology and control the accuracy of its execution at all stages of the process. Another nuance is significant capital investments at the start, amounting to more than 100 million rubles only for the purchase of equipment. For this reason, many entrepreneurs are abandoning full-scale glass production in favor of recycling the material, which is also a profitable, but less costly field of activity at the initial stage.

Features of the Russian market

Glass industry leaders Russian Federation There are 11 plants, the largest of which are: JSC "AGC BSZ" (Nizhny Novgorod region), JSC "Saratovstroysteklo" (Saratov region), JSC "Salavatsteklo" (Bashkortostan), LLC "AGC Flat Glass Clean", LLC "Pilkington Glass" (Moscow region). It is these enterprises that produce 90% of domestic sheet glass. Moreover, only 30% of the volume of glass products on the market comes from abroad.

Glass production consumes 21% of raw materials, about 8% of fuel, 13% of electricity from the total industrial volume of the Russian Federation.

Glass types

Depending on the industry that the company is going to serve, it is possible to set up glass production various types. Among the most requested modifications:

quartz glass. The most common and easy to manufacture type of material based on quartz sand. Products made from it have heat resistance, transparency, but at the same time they are quite fragile. Such glass is used, for example, for the manufacture of flasks and other laboratory glassware.
lime. An inexpensive material to manufacture, which is used for the manufacture of glass containers, sheet glass and electric lamps.
Lead. Silica and lead oxide are added to the composition of the glass mass. It is used in the production of crystal and elements of radio components.
Colored glass. It can be body dyed, drawn, rolled, patterned, smooth and two-layer. It is used as a facing material, for decorative glazing, making stained-glass windows.
energy saving(K-, I-, E-, I-glass). It is produced by applying a thin, invisible coating with high thermal conductivity to the glass surface. Thanks to this, about 70% of the heat coming from heating appliances.
Reinforced glass. It is used for glazing window structures and partitions in industrial premises. In the thickness of the glass there is metal grid, due to which, in case of fire or mechanical damage, the structure does not shatter into fragments, but breaks off along the cut line.
tinted. Used for sun protection. It is produced by adding metal oxides of a given shade to the glass mass.
sun protection glass. The appropriate coating is applied by spraying. Penetrating into the thickness of the glass, metal oxides give the surface additional strength and resistance to external influences.
Strained glass. The material is obtained by heat treatment. After gradual heating and subsequent cooling, the glass acquires mechanical strength, which allows it to be used, for example, in the automotive industry.
multilayer (Triplex). Contains several layers glued together with transparent polymers. Has a high resistance to formation through holes, good sound insulation, does not shatter into fragments upon impact. It is used most often as a windshield in cars and in the production of double-glazed windows.
Milled. Ordinary glass is heated and given a given shape. As a result, a wide variety of products of a complex, for example, curved, configuration are obtained.
Armored. Multi-layer construction of several M1 glasses and polymeric photocurable composition. It can be film and filmless. Reliably protects against bullets in accordance with the bullet resistance class - B1, B2, B3, B4, B5.
fireproof glass. Little is produced in Russia. Contains reinforcement that holds glass cracked in a fire in place, thereby preventing the spread of flames.

Glass production equipment

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The choice of equipment depends on the type of product being produced. In this case, the manufacturer practically does not play a role. Domestic units are not inferior in quality to foreign counterparts. All standard lines have the same set of components:

Units for the preparation of raw materials. These include machines for separating impurities, in particular magnetic separators that extract metal particles from sand, as well as powerful crushers for grinding ingredients.
Plants for batch mixing (charge mixers). Components are selected depending on the composition of the final product.
Weighing equipment. High-precision scales allow you to dose the components correctly.
Glass melting plants.
Conveyor equipment. Necessary for transporting ingredients.

You will also need a packaging line and possibly a sandblasting machine.

Equipment for the production of different types of glass looks quite similar. Installations for the manufacture of automotive glass are considered to be one of the most complex, due to the strict standardization of the final product. There are specific cooling lines, gluing machines, as well as devices for processing products with polymers, which give the surface additional strength.

Glass furnaces

For melting glass, special furnaces with different technological modes are used. This equipment is classified according to two indicators.

Classification by technological parameters

In small enterprises for the production of optical, lighting and medical glass, pot furnaces are used. The equipment is designed to produce a small amount of products (1-16 pots are installed in the oven) with high light transmission and uniformity.

Also in the glass industry, bath furnaces of continuous or periodical action, having the form of massive rectangular containers. Their design and dimensions may vary. The lines include installations with molten tin, where the glass mass is cooled.

Large-sized bath furnaces are equipped with automatic control systems for burners, which allows you to regulate and evenly distribute pressure, temperature and gas component on the working surface.

Classification according to the principle of heating

According to the principle of heating, plasma and electric ovens. The former operate from fuel combustion and have low efficiency, since thermal energy is used to heat the charge and boilers.

Electrical equipment makes it possible to produce all existing species glass. As heating element glass mass acts here, which under the action of high temperatures acquires the properties of an electrolyte. The main advantage of the installations is the absence of heat losses with outgoing gases.

There are also combined gas-electric furnaces, where gas heating is used to melt the charge, and the glass mass is heated by means of direct resistance.

What is glass made from?

In accordance with classical technology, the main raw materials in glass production are quartz sand, sodium sulfate, dolomite and limestone. To speed up production processes, the so-called charge is used - specific oxides that promote glass formation. They can be basic or acidic. To give the glass the desired properties, auxiliary “ingredients” are used - manganese, chromium and cobalt dyes, brighteners (saltpeter, arsenic trioxide), etc.

The basic components of the glass mixture are sand (70%), soda and lime (30%). After adding other substances according to the technological process, the mass is mixed, melted, cooled and cut into sheets of a given size. Modern production lines are designed for the production of sheet glass with a thickness of 2-50 mm and a size of 5x3 m².

Glass production technology + Video how they do it

Its production is a labor-intensive and painstaking process that requires professional knowledge of technology and large investments. Classic way glass manufacturing is based on the melting of the initial mass, where decolorizers, silencing agents, dyes, amplifiers, etc. are additionally introduced. Then the composition is cooled and cut, based on the specified parameters. At the moment, 2 glass production technologies are popular in the world.

Emil Furko method

The technology is based on vertical machine drawing of the material. The glass mass is melted in a glass melting furnace and drawn out by means of rolling shafts, and then fed into the cooling shaft and cut. Almost finished sheets are subjected to grinding and polishing. The thickness of the products is regulated by changing the drawing speed.

Float method [main]

The technology assumes that the molten glass mass from the furnace is placed on horizontal pallets and fed into a float bath with molten tin and a gas-air atmosphere. Moving along the surface, the future glass acquires flat shape and is saturated with tin particles. The sheets are then cooled and annealed. The main advantages of the method are high productivity and no need for subsequent processing (grinding, polishing). In addition, this glass has:

correct geometry, the same thickness throughout the sheet;
high quality;
transparency;
excellent optical properties.

In a similar way, reinforced glass with figured cells is made.

Full video about the whole process of how they do it, including sand preparation:

Additional processing

In this case, we are talking about applying paintwork materials to the side of the glass that did not come into contact with molten tin. The technology finds application in the creation of non-standard design solutions.

Due to the high cost of equipment and the high complexity of the production process, many entrepreneurs prefer the secondary business of glass processing or the manufacture of certain products - souvenirs, mirrors, glass furniture, double-glazed windows, various decorative products.

Mirror production technology

The mirror surface is obtained by decorative processing of sheet glass. Along the edge of the workpiece, facets are made with a width of 4-30 mm and an angle of inclination to the front surface of 5-30°.

Then, a reflective layer of silver 0.15-0.3 µm thick is applied to the back side and coated with a copper-based film for electrochemical protection of the silver layer. The process is completed by applying paints and varnishes that prevent mechanical damage to the surface. Epoxy enamels, polyvinyl butyral and nitroepoxy compositions can be used as them.

Another way to manufacture mirrors is glass metallization by vacuum evaporation and cathode sputtering.

Colored glass production technology + Video

In appearance and, accordingly, manufacturing technology, several types of sheet glass are distinguished: drawn, patterned, smooth, colored in mass, two-layer, made by applying oxide films of a given color.

The basic composition of the material is similar to that used for the manufacture of window sheet glass. Molecular dyes are most often used for staining. Products of red, blue, green, violet, blue, milky white, yellow, orange and black colors are in the greatest demand.

According to the type of staining, glass can be transparent, muted or marble-like. In the latter case, the effect is achieved by incomplete mixing of the colored glass mass with opaque glass.

Metal oxides, sulfur compounds of iron, lead, cadmium and copper, as well as sulfur and selenium act as dyes. The intensity of the color depends both on the chosen dye and on the properties of the glass itself. By experimenting with several pigments, it is possible to get dozens of color options.

The differences between the production technology of colored glass and the production of ordinary sheet glass lie in the specifics of the melting and molding processes. So, during cooking, it is necessary to pay special attention to the observance of temperature and gas conditions, the algorithm for supplying charge in the furnace and return cullet. A number of coloring components evaporate when heated, respectively, even small deviations from the technology can cause substandard.

Due to the significant difference in the heat transfer of the outer and inner layers, the former harden faster when cooled. Thus, the thinner the tape, the more evenly it cools. That is why the vertical boat drawing method is not used for the production of thickened sheet glass.

The melting of colored glass is carried out in glass melting furnaces with a capacity of 2-15 tons per day with a pool of shallow depth (300-700 mm). The cooking mode is set according to the type and composition of the glass, as well as the properties of the additives used. Some time ago, the melting of colored glasses began to be carried out in direct heating furnaces without recuperators and regenerators.

Requirements for production facilities

Today, glass production with a capacity of about 600 or more tons of products per day is considered the most profitable. Accordingly, the location of the plant should be selected taking into account the presence of nearby deposits of quartz sand and glass batch components, places of compact residence of the population and road, including railway interchanges.

The technological cycle allows the introduction of railway tracks on the territory of the enterprise, respectively, the presence of open combustible structures, coatings and ceilings in the structures should be excluded, and the width of the access roads should be sufficient for the supply of fire engines.

Structures where glass production is carried out directly belong to category G in relation to fire safety, the rest of the buildings - to category D.

According to current sanitary standards, glass production belongs to class III and must be separated by a 300 m wide sanitary protection zone. Also, a filtration system must be installed at the enterprise Wastewater and air filters.

Each building at the enterprise must be connected to water supply, sewerage, power supply, heat supply, gas supply, flow ventilation.

The type and number of storeys of structures depend on the composition, type, quantity and dimensions of production equipment. As a rule, we are talking about one-story multi-span buildings with a grid of columns 30x12 and 36x12 m, 14.4 and 16.5 m high. The frame of the buildings is made of prefabricated reinforced concrete or steel supporting structures.

Trends in the development of glass production

Modern glass production is developing in three main areas: improving working conditions, automating processes and focusing on the production of "green" products.

To solve the tasks set, new technologies are being developed and introduced, including advanced developments in the IT industry, active modernization of existing production facilities, special programs are being introduced that provide for a reduction in the working day, employee insurance, and the installation of efficient ventilation equipment.

Companies strive to compensate for the harm caused to the environment in the process of glass melting through the active use of recycled materials.

The components that make up glass can be divided into the following types:

The basis
Mandatory Alkali Metal Oxides
Components that give special properties
Excipients

Also in some cases, cullet is added.

The basis of any glass is quartz sand or silicon dioxide. Moreover, only selected sand, purified from iron impurities and from the slightest contaminants, gets into the mixture for future glass, about 2% of impurities are allowed. The transparency of the glass itself depends on this.

The required alkali metal oxides are different depending on the type of glass. For example:

for window glass, oxides of sodium, calcium or aluminum are used
for crystal - oxides of potassium and lead
for laboratory - oxides of sodium, potassium, boron
for optical - oxides of barium, aluminum, boron

Components to impart special properties are selected based on the desired effect, for example, titanium or barium oxides are added to impart heat resistance, and so on.

Auxiliary substances are mostly illuminators, bleaches and dyes.

Industrial glass production

It all starts with the fact that all the necessary substances are brought to the production plant. The main components of what glass is made of are quartz sand, dolomite, soda, lime. All substances undergo preparatory processing. Sand is cleaned of iron impurities, dolomite and lime are crushed in a crusher. After that, all substances are mixed and at this stage the components necessary to impart certain properties are also mixed in. This whole mixture is called a mixture. A mixture is a mixture that is already completely ready for further processing, that is, it is already exactly what glass is made of.

The technological process for the manufacture of glass begins. The finished charge goes through the conveyor into the bunkers, from which it is poured into the loader, and the loader already pushes it into the furnace. Since the temperature here ranges from 1200 to 1600 degrees, depending on the type of future glass, such a furnace operates continuously for several years. Because you can’t just take and turn off such a furnace, otherwise it will simply collapse. In order to turn off such an oven, it will take about a week of uniform cooling. At this temperature, the charge turns into glass mass.

From the furnace, this glass mass first enters a tank with a stirrer, and after it is well mixed, it flows into the stubbing chamber. Here it cools down to about 1000 degrees. From the student part, the glass melt enters the fleet bath. At this stage, there is interesting process. A navy bath is a bath of molten tin, the temperature of which is about 600-700 degrees Celsius. On this tin, the glass mass literally floats and cools down a little, it is thanks to this technology that it acquires an almost perfect plane.

After a bath with tin, the glass ribbon enters the firing lehr, which is more than 100 meters long, rolling over which it gradually cools.

The next step is cutting the tape into sheets of glass. This is where some very clever technology comes into play. Cutting takes place directly in the direction of the tape, which significantly speeds up the entire process of glass production. How can you cut the tape on the go, you ask. The fact is that the cutter moves at exactly the same speed as the tape and at this time cuts it across, after which it returns to its original position. So we get finished sheets of glass.

Now, such equipment as a stacker machine comes into operation. As the name suggests, she makes stacks of glass. The movement of glass sheets occurs with the help of suction cups, since the glass is very fragile, but it weighs quite a lot, it cannot be moved in any other way. After the stacks are formed, they are transported by a special loader, and then the glass is distributed to warehouses, shops, to places where double-glazed windows are made from them, and so on.

By the way, why is glass transparent? The fact is that quartz sand is completely transparent. But we cannot see anything through the grains of sand due to the multiple refraction of light. For example, if you break the glass into many pieces, then you will not see anything through them either. And when the sand turns into a smooth mass, then here we already see a transparent sheet of glass.

Manufacturing of glass products

Glass products can be divided into two large kind. The first are those products that are produced on an industrial scale, the so-called glass containers, for example glass bottles, banks. The second big type is art products. This is the name of all products that are made by hand by glassblowers, such as vases, glass figurines, figurines and the like. In the manufacture of glass products, industrial glass and in general any glass, the initial stage of production is always absolutely similar, until the glass mass is obtained. Only the components that make up the charge, the melting temperature and the subsequent processing of the resulting glass mass are different.

Manufacture of industrial glass products

The finished glass mass from the furnace falls into the glass line, from which it flows out in the form of a sausage and is cut into cylindrical drops by a cutter, one such drop is the future bottle or jar. The drop is sent to a so-called scoop, which directs them to the molding machine. It works by the following method: the holders take the drop by the edge and hold it in a hanging position, the entire lower part of the drop is closed on both sides with the desired shape, whether it be a jar or a bottle, certain patterns can also be on the shape. After the mold is closed, the holder is removed and a blowing device is inserted into the drop. It's like balloon, inflates the drop from the inside with compressed air and the mass acquires the desired shape. Excess molten glass goes back to its original shape.

By the way, to give the glass any color or shade, they add to the mixture certain substances, for example, iron or chromium oxide is added to give green color, copper oxide for blue, and so on.

Now almost finished goods move along a heated conveyor so that there is no sharp temperature drop and the product does not crack. From this conveyor, the loading machine moves the products into a lehr, along which they move slowly and gradually cool down. Here they are treated with a special solution that allows them to glide and move smoothly. And they move on to the testing and packaging line. After going through all the stages, we get the finished product.

How art glass products are made

Artistic glass products are all made from the same glass mass. In the production of such products, the same furnace is still used, but only the temperature for manufacturing is slightly lower than industrial, about 1200 degrees. The product itself is made by glassblowers. Glassblowers are like jewelers for glass, they can work alone or in pairs or even more.

With the help of a long tube, glass masters take the required amount of hot glass directly from the furnace and immediately begin to shape it. various methods while periodically blowing through the tube. In the process, it will be possible to add more material, for example, for any additional details. Very small details are made separately, also by different methods.

After forming the details and the general shape of the product, it is placed in another kiln for a day. As a rule, the temperature in the heated state is about 400 degrees, at night such a furnace is turned off and the products in it gradually cool down to 70 degrees, where they harden and harden.