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5. Some glass technologies
Let's turn now to a description of some of the modern technologies used in industrial glass plants.
It all begins with a furnace in which the composition is melted (a mixture of raw materials containing the future constituents of glass in the right proportions). This melting is achieved using powerful burners or, in some cases, electric currents fed into the mass of liquid glass by large electrodes. Once melted, the glass flows to a section of the furnace, where it is slightly overheated to allow the gas bubbles it contains to rise to the surface, where they burst, leaving a glass as homogeneous and bubble-free as possible. This phase of homogenization and bubble evacuation is known as glass refining.
A melting and refining furnace can cover an area of around 100 m 2 and be 1 to 2 m deep. It...
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Some glass technologies
Where will future advances in glass come from?
Bibliography
Directory
Main glass producers
Saint-Gobain (flat glass).
Pikington (flat glass).
Asahi Glass (flat glass).
PPG (flat glass).
Saint-Gobain (hollow glass).
Owens Illinois (hollow glass).
Owens Corning (reinforcement fibers).
Saint-Gobain (glass wool)....
Economic data
2008 data
Flat glass: 10 million tonnes.
Hollow glass: 22 million tonnes.
Cups: 1.5 million tonnes.
Reinforcing fibers: 820,000 tonnes.
Other: 800,000 tonnes.
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