This paper provides an overview of environmental issues related to the production of optical glass and float glass, along with proposed solutions. It explores methods that can optimise production efficiency while reducing the overall ecological footprint. These solutions aim to promote a more environmentally friendly and socially responsible approach to glass manufacturing. The main environmental areas identified include pollution from chemical materials, gaseous pollution, and contamination from solid and dust particles. Furthermore, during the production of optical glass, the correct handling of chemical materials was found to be the most crucial aspect due to the its wide range of varieties involved. On the other hand, in the production of float glass, greater emphasis was placed on addressing issues related to natural gas consumption, given the large volumes required. It was established that the utilisation of conditioned raw materials has a positive impact on the environment by reducing natural gas consumption. Consequently, a comprehensive methodology for studying these environmental issues was summarised, and promising directions for addressing them were identified. The focus is on Ukrainian production within this industry.
This paper is linked to a Year 2 doctoral practice-based research project, which explores the negative impacts on mental health and well-being of too-fast pace of life and work-related stress through craft. Existing research shows that the benefits of craft on mental health arise through the making process itself, creativity and self-expression, with foundations in psychology,(1) biology(2) and sociology.(3)In order to further explore the potential benefits of craft, the author examines the integration of literati landscape painting, an art form known for its positive impact on mental health,(4) into the craft of glassmaking. Additionally, the paper discusses the unproven health benefits and potential of long-standing after-making interaction with craft, such as the use of prayer beads and the love patina in Chinese culture, which aims to transfer the joy of craft from the maker to the user. Through cultural probe and participant interviews, the author validates to a certain extent the positive effects of literati style craft on well-being, as participants perceive it as a means of self-expression, connection, and ultimately achieving improved health and well-being.
Filament-laying techniques originated in the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) and fl ourished in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), before being introduced to the Boshan region of China. After this technology was introduced to Boshan, glass artisans in the area used the well-developed local methods of glass production to pull out ultra-fi ne glass fi laments, replacing original fi bre or silk fi laments with glass fi laments. As a result, Boshan's speciality of glass-fi lament-laying was born. Products made using this technique include plaques, table lamps, palace lamps and screens. Glass-fi lament-laying is the melting of transparent glass into fi ne fi laments of uniform thickness, dividing the fi laments into two layers, closely arranged and bonded in diff erent orders, with calligraphy and paintings on paper or silk sandwiched in between them. The glass-fi lament-laying process is highly complex and there are fewer and fewer master artisans of this skill today, with it being close to being lost. This paper mainly studies and discusses the development of glass-fi lament-laying in Boshan and the contemporary innovative methods of glass-fi lament-laying.
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to limit global warming to 15 degrees C is one of humanity's most critical challenges. Every energy-intensive sector, including glass manufacturing, must play a part in reaching this goal. This paper, based on the AGC/Professor Michael Cable Memorial Lecture, presents a comprehensive analysis of the technical challenges and strategies for decarbonization of glass melting, the most energy-intensive process in glass production, accounting for 50-80% of the total energy used in glass manufacturing. Four key themes are explored. First, it examines the energy intensity of the glass industry within the broader context of commodity materials manufacturing. Next, it offers an overview of the glass manufacturing process, with a focus on the fundamentals of glass melting. It then highlights key technological innovations implemented by the author and colleagues that have significantly reduced the energy intensity of melting. Finally, it presents decarbonization strategies for glass melting, with a focus on energy substitution methods such as electric boosting, hydrogen combustion, and ammonia combustion, discussing their benefits, challenges, and, where applicable, providing economic projections. The paper also addresses emissions reduction through increased cullet use and raw material modifications.
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to limit global warming to 1??5°C is one of humanity’s most critical challenges. Every energy-intensive sector, including glass manufacturing, must play a part in reaching this goal. This paper, based on the AGC/Professor Michael Cable Memorial Lecture, presents a comprehensive analysis of the technical challenges and strategies for decarbonization of glass melting, the most energy-intensive process in glass production, accounting for 50‐80% of the total energy used in glass manufacturing. Four key themes are explored. First, it examines the energy intensity of the glass industry within the broader context of commodity materials manufacturing. Next, it offers an overview of the glass manufacturing process, with a focus on the fundamentals of glass melting. It then highlights key technological innovations implemented by the author and colleagues that have significantly reduced the energy intensity of melting. Finally, it presents decarbonization strategies for glass melting, with a focus on energy substitution methods such as electric boosting, hydrogen combustion, and ammonia combustion, discussing their benefits, challenges, and, where applicable, providing economic projections. The paper also addresses emissions reduction through increased cullet use and raw material modifications.
The influences of bubbling tube length, gas volume and position on glass flow are analyzed and optimized by numerical simulation. The results show that the effect of bubbling on the relatively stationary layer in circulation I is related to the tube length and gas volume of bubbling. Larger bubbling gas volume indicates that the range of action below the bubbling nozzle is deeper. Thus, the relationship between gas volume and its action area is established on the basis of the aforementioned observation. In addition, the bubbling position significantly affects the "thermal barrier" on the spring zone. Moreover, bubbling can only play a beneficial role on the glass furnace when appropriate distance is maintained between the bubbling and spring zone. Combined with the simulation optimization results and the bubbling viewpoint proposed in Part 1, the bubbling parameters of a production line in China were optimized, and the stripe images of the glass products with bubbling before and after optimization were compared and verified. The obtained results were consistent with the simulation results. This work provides a valuable reference for the early design and construction of a furnace and its optimization adjustment after production. It also reflects the importance of rational distribution of glass flow with bubbling in the furnace on the quality of the glass product.
E-glass fibre glass products have found a wide range of applications in composite markets, including automobile parts, printed circuit boards, construction materials, wind turbine blades, pipes, etc. One of the commonly used major ingredients of E-glass batch is kaolin, which provides sources of silica and alumina. This paper focuses on the evaluation of alternative silicate minerals that may benefit the fibre glass production in terms of kinetics of batch-to-melt (BtM) conversion, stable and lower impurity iron, and lower BtM conversion energy. Using kaolin (free quartz less than 1 wt%) as a control, four new natural minerals are investigated, high silica kaolin (quartz greater than 50 wt%), pyrophyllite, anorthosite and wollastonite. In our study, a newly established FTIR protocol has been applied to track intermediate phase formation and final glass melt conversion. Literature reported XRD results and limited XRD analysis are used to support the IR characterization. According to our study, for E-glass of CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 based system, independent of the source of the natural silicate minerals used, BtM kinetics is primarily controlled by the availability of "free silica" to react with "free calcium oxide" derived from limestone in the batch at high temperature above 1000 degrees C
On 6th October 1672 the group of diners at Lord Salisbury's table included Robert Hooke, the Royal Society's curator of experiments. He noted in his diary 'Discoursd after dinner of new glasses...'. This interest in innovative glasses was not an isolated or transient one. The previous year Robert Boyle had argued that it was important that 'curious people' should understand 'trades': 'It [experimental philosophy] may enable gentlemen and scholars to converse with tradesmenand benefit themselves (and perhaps the tradesmen too) by that conversation; or at least it will qualify them to ask ques-tions of men that converse with things, and sometimes to exchange experiments with them.' To achieve these aspirations scientists and those of the glass trade needed to communicate effectively - a challenge given the cognitive gaps between them, since their: languages; vocabularies; and contextual knowledge all differed markedly. Perhaps more importantly their objectives diverged, the 'curious' scientists seeking knowledge for the sake of the knowledge, whilst the 'artificers who communicated with glass' sought it to create wealth. Some aimed to do this by making a heavier, clearer, stronger, glass resembling rock crystal to satisfy the newly-formed Worshipful Company of Glass-sellers; others through new, state-of-the-art decorative coloured glasses. This paper is about how these scientists and glass-makers jointly learnt about 'new 'glasses and together overcame a number of set-backs, including crizzling and solarisation, to achieve world-class products. The ensuing co-operation between these communities was not confined to England, but probably had more success here than abroad because many participants were collocated in London.
Public art is a form of culture in the public spaces in people's lives. With the rapid development of contemporary science and technology, the social economy has also been greatly improved, with people's living standards increasing. Across the world, the field of contemporary culture and art is also becoming extremely active and is demonstrating a diversified development scene. In particular, the public trend of visual art is becoming increasingly obvious, with various forms of public artworks emerging and glass art being indispensable in this. This paper mainly discusses the relationship between Chinese traditional glass art and contemporary public spaces, analysing the classification characteristics and excellent cases of Chinese traditional glass art to explore the future development trends of this kind of art in public spaces. This project is in line with the themes of sustainability and innovation in the development of glass art from the traditional to the contemporary, showing the social value of glass art in contemporary public spaces. As the glass art in public spaces is varied, I would like to briefl y describe the development of traditional Chinese glass art in public art in recent years.
This is the fourth in this series of “Lessons Learned and Yet to be Learned” on topics related to glass strength.(1–3) In this paper we pick up the topic of stronger glass products from our earlier publication(2) and expand to discussing commercial technologies. Included in this discussion are a brief historical perspective of the initial technologies and update to newer technologies with the aim to obtain faster production rates that focus on lightweight glass products and a sustainable future with respect to resource conservation, reduced energy consumption and reduced CO2 emissions. Also included are glass products which focus on safety mostly and less on overall strength.
Aqueous corrosion of soda-lime-silica (SLS) glass surfaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon, demanding a thorough understanding of the underpinning structural chemistry. Here we unveil the fugacious behaviour of water molecules within the disseminated voids of the subsurface silicate network of SLS glass. The surface nanostructural modifications caused by the exposure of the glass surface to continuous flow of superheated steam was investigated. The variation of hardness was studied as a function of depth from the glass surface, in correlation with the structural alterations at atomic scale by surface sensitive spectroscopic techniques. The analysis of the modification of the surface nanostructure, driven by the enhanced mobility of the silicate network effectuated by superheated steam at the vicinity of glass transition temperature (T-g ), serves as a model to explain the activity of water molecules within the glass network. We attribute the evidence of transient subsurface hardening to the loss of interstitial water molecules within the silicate rings.
How can we reduce our carbon emissions with new furnace concepts and ideas? New ideas can only be safely developed and tested by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. It is quite logical that no glass producer will build a new furnace concept melting 100+ ton/day without thorough analysis, calculations and extensive CFD modelling. Lately most of them are asking how to reduce carbon emissions with either increasing the amount of electric melting or hydrogen. We have seen before such intensive use of CFD modelling when the oxy-fuel applications emerged, and now with the next generation of large hybrid (with more than 50% electric boosting) or all-electric melters we can see an increase again.
