What is needed to make glass. What glass is made of - manufacturing process, composition and properties. Unique waste-free production
A person encounters glass items on a daily basis. Glass is almost a magical object - on the one hand it is transparent, on the other a material object. A substance will be transparent when photons (light quanta) pass through it without being absorbed. But for some reason not everyone comes up with the idea - how and from what glass is made? How is the process going?
Interesting Facts:
- It takes a million years for glass to decompose.
- Glass is recycled without loss of quality.
- The thickest glass in the world is the 26 cm screen of the Sydney Aquarium.
What is glass made of?
For the manufacture of glass, the craftsmen take: quartz sand (the main component); lime; soda;
First, quartz sand, soda and lime are heated in a special oven to a temperature of 1,700 degrees above zero. The grains of sand are connected to each other, after they are homogenized (turns into a homogeneous substance), the gas is removed. The mass is "dipped" into molten tin with a temperature above 1000 degrees, which floats on the surface due to its lower density. The less mass that enters the tin bath, the thinner the glass will be at the exit.
Interesting Facts:
- Murano glass is considered the most expensive in the world. Products made from it cost millions of dollars. Venice has been famous since ancient times for the manufacture of quality glass. It is reliably known that in the 13th century the government of the state moved production to the large island of Murano, and the craftsmen were strictly forbidden to leave it. The punishment is a death sentence. In addition, for tourists or other residents of Venice, the entrance to the island was also closed. Such harsh measures made it possible to keep the secrecy of production.
- One of the most interesting mental illnesses of the Middle Ages is the "glass disease". A man with such a disorder thought he was made of glass and was afraid of breaking. The French king Charles VI suffered from this ailment. The monarch always wore several layers of clothing and forbade touching himself.
What are the functions of soda and lime in the production process?
Soda helps to reduce the melting point by half. If you do not add it, it will be very difficult to melt the sand, and, accordingly, to connect individual grains of sand together. Lime is needed so that the mass firmly tolerates water. If it were not in the composition, the window, for example, would dissolve immediately after the first rain, and the glass would burst after contact with water.
Related materials:
What is Venetian glass and why did artists buy eggs?
Interesting Facts:
- China has not produced glass for over 500 years - from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Now the state is one of the leaders in production and controls a third of the world glass market.
- 1994 became extremely active in terms of glass recycling in the United States. If you put all glass products recycled that year in one line, you get a kind of "road" to the moon.
How is colored glass made?
Glass is produced not only colorless. To obtain a colored product, in addition to the main components, chemical compounds are added to the melting furnace:
- Iron oxides give the glass a deep red hue.
- Nickel oxides - brown, purple (depending on the amount).
- For a bright yellow hue, add uranium oxides to the sand, soda, and lime.
- Chromium makes glass green.
What are the characteristics and properties of glass?
The proportions of components for the manufacture of glass products are selected depending on their purpose. Allocate: household glass - what is then made of dishes, glasses, jewelry; construction - shop windows, windows, stained-glass windows;
We will finally answer the question that haunts many: "How is transparent glass made from opaque sand?" Imagine how much glass man produces and how much sand he uses. As for any production, the first raw material is supplied to the plant - sand. And this sand, not just any, but special - quartz. Compared with the sea, the quartz is much smaller and whiter. The first stage of manufacturing is the oven. At a time, up to 170 tons of sand is placed in this furnace, and the temperature is brought to 1500 degrees. The formula of glass is not only sand (although it is the majority), but also some substances that enhance its strength. Notice - strength, but not transparency. Here are the names of some of the ingredients: sulfate, feldspar, soda, saltpeter, dolomite. Soda, for example, is only needed to melt the sand faster. Already in the oven, all this mixture turns into glass. Only it is still liquid. Further, until the glass has cooled down and frozen, it is poured into molds (for example, for the manufacture of bottles). A special automated installation cuts the plastic glass mass pouring out of the furnace into equal pieces and directs these pieces to the molding machine. Since the main functions of production are occupied by machines, it quickly acquires the desired shape without having time to harden before. So the secret is in the oven itself? Does high temperature really make an opaque thing transparent? No! You will be surprised, but the sand was actually transparent even before arriving at the plant. To verify this, we need a microscope. What is sand made of? Right, from grains of sand. Here you need to look at them under a microscope. In fact, every grain of quartz sand is transparent! "Why, then, typing sand in the palm of your hand, it does not shine through like water?" And here the laws of physics come into force. The point is that grains of sand are separate elements with several faces. It is these very edges that refract the ray of light falling on them. This is how the feeling of "opacity" is created. For even greater understanding, let's conduct an experiment. Take a transparent bottle and break it with a hammer. Grind the fragments additionally in a mortar. Now we pour them on the table, and what do we see? And we see an opaque pile of glass. Everything happens in the oven with precision, but on the contrary, rather than in our experiment. The kiln combines the "split" grains of sand into one whole. The geometric parameters of each individual grain of sand are no longer important here, since they will all melt and merge into one whole. You will get one large grain of sand, which will easily transmit light, i.e. it turns out glass to order. As soon as people learned to make transparent glass and apply it in life, the need arose for opaque glass. Special powders have been invented that can not only darken the transparent material, but also give it the desired color. This is how glass is created to order in a seemingly uncomplicated way. In contact with Glass is the most ancient object that was found by man and is still used today. Found because the person did not invent it himself and made it for the first time. Most likely, the first glass appeared many thousands of years ago from volcanic lava. Now this substance is called obsidian. How is glass made? Let's go back to the days when it did not exist yet. Gradually, people got to know the surrounding nature and noticed that when natural soda was mixed with sand and then heated, a transparent substance appeared. This is how they became known for this the new kind material. This process was described by Pliny, an ancient Greek encyclopedist. It was from that moment that the history of the use of glass began, which has become completely irreplaceable in our life today. After all, now it is used everywhere. However, there is another theory as to how glass is made, more precisely, how it was made in the past. Some scientists decided that the vitreous material was identified as a by-product of copper smelting or roasting. This product has played a truly outstanding role in human life. It is difficult to overestimate its importance. The production of flat glass is comparable to discoveries such as the production of fire and the invention of the wheel. In the days of Ancient Egypt, it was customary to make all kinds of jewelry from it. Later they learned to make containers for liquids from it. Since the thirteenth century, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of glass produced. Venice became the center of its production. The technology of creating oriental glass became known to the masters, after which they began to develop and improve it. The transparency of the glass was made possible by the addition of all sorts of impurities to it. Craftsmen began to make various dishes out of it, which were very delicate and elegant. In those days, glass products served more as luxury items and ornaments. If the question of how glass is made is still interesting to you, then you can talk about how it found more and more new areas of application. Its production technology has been improved. A mirror was invented, this was done by applying amalgam to one side. Glass was also used in construction. Usually it was used in the construction of palaces and temples. And after the masters learned how to make it colored, they began to decorate the windows with it, making beautiful stained-glass windows. And now glass is widely used for fusing. And in science, over time, they began to use glass. Thanks to the discovery of its ability to concentrate and scatter light, various lenses were created, telescopes and microscopes were made. These discoveries have become a giant step in the development of natural sciences - medicine, biology, astronomy, physics and others. In none scientific direction no activity is possible without glasses. How is glass made? As before, made of sand. At its core, the sand contains quartz crystals presented here. When heated, it melts. If you quickly cool it, then the minerals will not have time to crystallize, becoming transparent. To give the product a certain color, oxides of different metals are added to it. To give the glass maximum transparency, the sand is cleaned so that it contains practically one quartz. On this moment there are many ways to obtain a product with different properties: reinforced, hardened, mirrored, armored. Simple sand, which is processed, is still used as a basis. It is important to say that there is still enough sand on the planet, so glass will not soon be out of our use. Examining yourself in a shop window, washing your face and looking in the mirror in the morning, watching the outlandish stirring of coffee with milk through the transparent walls of a cup are common activities. And no one thinks about what way glass makes in order to become an integral attribute of the life of a modern person. It all starts with mixing unusual ingredients. The glass begins with the preparation and mixing of the component parts. The quality of glass products depends on the degree of preparation of the ingredients. The most common name comes from the name of the chemical element silicon oxide - SiO 2. Quartz sand is a representative of this substance in nature. Sodium sulfate, limestone, soda - that's what glass is made of. A little cullet is added to the composition. Before the glass is made, the sand is sieved and sorted. Raw materials of the worst quality are used for the production of window glass, the best - for the manufacture of tableware, jewelry, optical lenses and art products. The difference in the size of the grains and the chemical composition affects: the finer the sand, the wider the scope of its application. If large grains of sand prevail, then such sand is the main raw material for window glass. Sorted sand is transported to workshops for further processing. Quartz raw materials are placed in drums, the walls of which consist of the thinnest film. When the drums rotate, the sand is washed with clean water without detergents... The film is water permeable. The contents are discharged onto a conveyor belt, which shakes the contents, sifting out large pebbles. This is followed by a stage of fine filtration to purify the sand from metal inclusions. The hit of the latter will change chemical composition glass. For this, spiral vertical grooves are used. Under the influence of centrifugal force, heavy metal particles are pressed against the inner part of the gutter, the lighter sand is washed along the outer edge and moves on. The wet raw material is dried. The quartz sand is fed to a circular rotating conveyor. From below it is blown through with hot air. The dried raw materials are fed to the place of further processing. The rest are added to the sand constituent elements... Everything is poured into the smelting furnace. At a temperature of 1600 degrees, everything is remelted and mixed with a special paddle, which is constantly cooled with cool water. The resulting mixture is poured into baths filled with molten tin. The density of the latter is less than that of hot glass, so it spreads evenly over the bath. At the same time, it cools down to a temperature of 600 degrees, because the temperature of tin is lower than the temperature of liquid glass. A large roller pulls out the soft glass and pushes on. The resulting "endless" glass sheet is cut with a diamond. The cutting device moves along a trajectory at an angle. The sheet is fed by continuously moving rollers. The diamond "catches" movement, adjusts and cuts even sheets. Then one of the rollers is lifted and the glass is disconnected along the cut line. The resulting sheets are moved by robots that have vacuum nozzles. They grab the glass and transfer it to the place indicated by the person using the remote control. We talked about the main stages and technology of transparent glass production. It is used more often than color. To create original stained-glass windows, fragile glass sheets of different colors are needed. Before making colored glass, you need to choose the desired color. A chemical element is added to the crushed raw material, which will color the transparent glass. An orange color is obtained by adding cadmium sulfite and zinc white. To create a red tint - selenium. The color and intensity of staining depends on the amount of added substance. The glass production process is, of course, lengthy, but nowadays most of the operations are automated. The equipment is varied and expensive. The main equipment of glass factories: Craftsmen can make glass even at home. First you need to calculate the proportions of the components. Having studied what glass is made of, the composition of the future glass mixture includes: sand, soda, lime, broken glass. The procedure for making glass at home: There are a lot of types of glass. To determine the quality of each type, created state standards, which describes the properties and quality characteristics. There are GOST standards for quartz glass, sheet glass, medical glass, multilayer glass, bending glass, inorganic, optical and other types. They describe production technologies, brands, methods for determining quality, classification. Large manufacturing companies are engaged in the production of sheet types of glass of a wide range. This is due to the popular glazing of large office and commercial buildings in major cities. Therefore, manufacturers often use GOST No. 111-90 “Sheet glass. Technical conditions ". By purpose, glass is subdivided into the following brands: Around a person is full of objects made of glass or with its inclusions. They can be summarized according to their intended use. The main groups of glass products: Glass products are used in many areas human activity... In some, its firmness is important, in others - transparency, quality is appreciated everywhere equally. Directions of glass application: Glass production has survived in many countries of the former USSR. This is due to the availability of raw materials and the relative ease of production. Glass production in Russia is represented by the following companies: LLC "BSZ" - Boyarsky glass plant, the largest manufacturer. Produces tempered, tinted glass and triplex. The products are used in the automotive construction industry: for windshields, side windows in cars. Located in the town of Bor, Nizhny Novgorod region. JSC "Salavatsteklo" produces sheet glass for the production shop equipment, furniture and transport industries. The company produces glass bottles. Production is located in the Republic of Bashkortostan, the city of Salavat. JSC "Saratovstroisteklo" produces glass sheets using the modern fleet method. The enterprise manufactures glass of grades M1, M4 and M7. The products of the Saratov Glass Factory were used in the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, the Rossiya Hotel and a number of others. Pilkington Glass LLC is a British manufacturer of glass products in the Moscow Region. Manufactures a specialized line of solar control glass, which is widely used for glazing buildings. The products have high noise insulation properties, therefore they are used for glazing buildings near highways and railway branches. OOO Guardian Glass Ryazan is a Russian enterprise, in the production of which the latest technologies and equipment are used. The company manufactures fiberglass thermal insulation, solar control and multifunctional, energy-saving glass. The production line for painted surface mirrors is in operation. OJSC "Vostok" is an industrial complex that produces glass sheets for use in the production of windows and glazing for greenhouses. Joint-stock company produces baguette, frosted, strained glass... He is engaged in the restoration of Catholic churches and other valuable buildings, an automatic glass cutting line works. Products are supplied to England, Holland, Germany. Production is located in the City of St. Petersburg. ZAO Symbol - Moscow enterprise manufactures flat glass for the automotive industry, offers a wide range of impact-resistant laminated glass. You can make glass like on a large industrial production and at home. The main active ingredient is fine quartz sand. The most important type of equipment is a melting furnace, the processes in which are fully automated. A person almost effortlessly receives a material of a wide range of applications - from the production of glass units to the production of fiber optic threads. Glass production began at least as early as the third millennium BC, as evidenced by the glass particles found in Mesopotamia. Glass making, which was once a rare art, has become a pervasive industry where glass products are used in both commercial and home applications, as glass containers, insulating material, reinforcing fibers, lenses and applied arts... Although the materials used to make glass may vary, the basic process of how glass is made remains the same and is described below.
Take a sufficient amount of siliceous sand. Also called quartz sand, siliceous sand is the main component in glass production. Iron-free glass is used to make clear glass, as iron, if available, makes glass a greenish tint. If it is not possible to find sand without iron impurities, then the tint effect can be excluded by adding a small amount of manganese dioxide. Add sodium carbonate and calcium oxide to the sand. Sodium carbonate (or baking soda) lowers the temperature required to make glass on an industrial scale. At the same time, it allows water to penetrate the glass, therefore sodium carbonate or calcium hydroxide is added in order to neutralize this property. Magnesium and / or aluminum oxide can also be added to make the glass more durable. As a rule, these additives form no more than 26-30 percent of the glass batch. To improve the quality of the glass, add other chemical elements according to the purpose of its use. The most common additive for decorative glass production is lead oxide, which imparts shine to transparent glass products, as well as plasticity, which makes glass cutting easier and also lowers the melting point. Spectacle lenses may contain lanthanum oxide due to its refractive properties, while iron helps the glass absorb heat. Crystal can contain up to 33 percent lead oxide; however, the more lead oxide, the more skill it takes to shape the molten glass, which is why many crystal manufacturers opt for less lead in the glass. If you need to make glass of a specific color, add chemicals to it. As mentioned above, iron impurities in quartz sand give the glass a greenish tint, so iron oxide, like copper oxide, is added to increase the green tint. Sulfur compounds impart a yellowish, amber, brownish or even blackish tint to the glass, depending on how much carbon or iron is added to the mixture. Place the mixture in a good heat resistant crucible or container. Melt the mixture until it is liquid. For industrial silica glass, melting is done in a gas furnace, while special glass can be produced using an electric smelting furnace, boiler furnace or kiln.
Quartz sand without additives turns into glass at 2,300 degrees Celsius (4.174 degrees Fahrenheit). When sodium carbonate (soda) is added, the temperature is reduced to the level required for glass making, up to 1,500 degrees Celsius (2.732 degrees Fahrenheit). Remove bubbles and ensure uniformity of the molten glass mass. This means stirring the mixture until firm and adding chemicals such as sodium sulfate, sodium chloride or antimony trioxide. Molten glass shape. Shaping glass can be done in one of several ways: molten glass is poured into a mold and cools in it. This method was used by the Egyptians and is now used to make lenses. Most of the molten glass can accumulate at the end of a hollow tube, into which air is then blown while the tube is rotated. The glass is shaped by the air that flows through the tube, the force of gravity pulls the molten glass towards itself, and the blower uses a variety of tools to work with the molten glass. Molten glass can be poured into a bath of molten tin as a base and injected with nitrogen pressure to give the glass its shape and gloss. The glass produced using this method is called polished sheet glass and this is exactly the method by which glass panes have been made since the 1950s. Leave the glass to cool. To increase the strength of the glass, you need to resort to heat treatment. This process is called firing, and it removes damage that has formed during the cooling process of the glass. Once this process is complete, the glass can be coated, laminated, or otherwise processed to improve its strength and durability. Annealing is the next production process in which polished glass of a given shape is placed in an oven heated to at least 600 degrees Celsius (1.112 degrees Fahrenheit), and then quickly cooled ("quenched") using a strong flow of air under high pressure ... Annealed glass breaks into small pieces of 6,000 psi (psi), while tempered glass breaks into small pieces at no less than 10,000 psi and typically around 24,000 psi Crushed shards of old glass can be added to the glass mixture before the glass is melted in order to process it into new glass. Old glass or "broken glass" must first be checked for impurities that can weaken the properties of new glass when they get into it. Components you need:
Let's start with the fact that some time ago glass did not exist in principle, and people lived in caves. And with the advent of this fragile and transparent material, life has changed radically. Think for yourself how many glass things surround us today: showcases, telescopes, computer screens, glasses, various containers, even houses have learned to build from glass.Raw materials
Sorting the base for glass
Initial sort
Sorting from metals
Drying
Melting
Cooling and leveling the glass surface
Cutting
Moving glass
Colored glass
Manufacturing equipment
Glass at home
Quality standards
Glass brands
Classification of glass products
Glass application
Glass production sites
Where to get money for business?
Trade tax or "rent tax
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