GLASSES refining of the batch of raw material take place in a pot, day tank or
continuous tank furnace.
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material. Glasses are
typically brittle, and often optically transparent.
The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and
drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, made of about 75% silica (SiO2) plus
Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives.
Glasses are used in the form of flat sheets, blocks, and fibers.
Flat Glass – this glass comes in the form of window glasses, plate glass, and
laminated glass.
Structural Glass – a sheet of glass used in facing for stores and other
buildings, and for interior trim.
Blocks – is used in construction. They are translucent admitting light while
permitting privacy.
Glass Fiber – use for insulation of refrigerators and stoves. It is light weight,
fire-proof and vermin proof.
KINDS OF GLASS:
Quartz Glass – the simplest composition being made by melting sand only.
Since sand has a high melting point and difficult to melt and keep fluid long
enough so bubbles escape, quartz glass is expensive. It transmits ultraviolet
rays making it valuable for lamps, lenses, and prisms in scientific apparatus.
Water Glass – if soda is added to sand, the mixture melts at a much lower
temperature to form sodium silicate. It makes wood and cloth fire resistant
and serves as an adhesive for glass and pottery.
Soda-lime Glass – A mixture of lime, sand, and soda ash yields soda-lime
glass, a hard, water resistant material. The raw materials for its manufacture
are so abundant and cheap.
Borosilicate Glasses – it expand and contract very little when heated or
cooled. This is done by substituting boric acid or borax for lime.
Lead Glasses – these are high grade optical and ornamental glasses made by
partially or wholly substituting lead for lime, and potash for soda ash.
Colored Glass – it is done by adding to the mixture the appropriate metallic
oxides, which are compounds of metal and oxygen.
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
1. Melting “THE BATCH” – the first step in production of glass is the
preparation of the mixture of raw materials called the batch. Melting and
2. Shaping the Glass – Once the glass has softened to the right temperature it
is shaped by various methods.
a. Blowing – for jars, bottles, vase and other.
b. Pressing – for plates, glass dishes, fuse plugs, watch crystal, glass block etc.
c. Drawing – for window glass, glass tube and glass fibers.
d. Rolling – for Plate glass (disc).
PROPERTIES
The properties of glasses vary with composition but some general statements
can be made:
1. Harder that many metals.
2. Have tensile strength.
3. Have low ductility; they are brittle.
4. Have a low coefficient of thermal expansion compared with many metals
and plastics.
5. Have low thermal conductivity.
6. The amorphous glasses have a modulus of elasticity.
7. Good electrical insulators.
8. Glasses are resistant to many acids, solvents and chemicals.
9. Can be used at elevated temperature.
10. Glasses are slowly attacked by water and some alkaline solutions.
CERAMICS
A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid prepared by the action
of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or
partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous (e.g., a glass). Because
most common ceramics are crystalline, the definition of ceramic is often
restricted to inorganic crystalline materials, as opposed to the non-crystalline
glasses.
Ceramics are generally made by taking mixtures of clay, earthen elements,
powders, and water and shaping them into desired forms. Once the ceramic
has been shaped, it is fired in a high temperature oven known as a kiln.
Often, ceramics are covered in decorative, waterproof, paint-like substances
known as glazes.
CERAMIC PROCESSING PROPERTIES OF CERAMICS:
Ceramic processing is used to produce commercial products that are very In general, most ceramics are:
diverse in size, shape, detail, complexity, and material composition, structure, 1. hard,
and cost. The purpose of ceramics processing to an applied science is the 2. wear-resistant,
natural result of an increasing ability to refine, develop, and characterize 3. brittle,
ceramic materials. 4. refractory,
5. thermal insulators,
Ceramics are typically produced by the application of heat upon processed 6. electrical insulators,
clays and other natural raw materials to form a rigid product. Ceramic 7. nonmagnetic,
products that use naturally occurring rocks and minerals as a starting material 8. oxidation resistant,
must undergo special processing in order to control purity, particle size, 9. prone to thermal shock, and
particle size distribution, and heterogeneity. These attributes play a big role 10. Chemically stable.
in the final properties of the finished ceramic. Chemically prepared powders
also are used as starting materials for some ceramic products. These TYPES OF CERAMIC PRODUCTS:
synthetic materials can be controlled to produce powders with precise 1. Structural – including bricks, pipes, floor, and roof tiles.
chemical compositions and particle size. 2. Refractories – such as kiln linings, gas fire radiant’s, steel and glass making
crucibles.
The next step is to form the ceramic particles into a desired shape. This is 3. Whitewares – including tableware, wall tiles, pottery products and sanitary
accomplished by the addition of water and/or additives such as binders, ware.
followed by a shape forming process. Some of the most common forming 4. Technical – is also known as Engineering, Advanced, Special, and in Japan,
methods for ceramics include extrusion, slip casting, pressing, tape casting Fine Ceramics. Such items include tiles used in the Space Shuttle program, gas
and injection molding. After the particles are formed, these "green" ceramics burner nozzles, ballistic protection, nuclear fuel uranium oxide pellets, bio-
undergo a heat-treatment (called firing or sintering) to produce a rigid, medical implants, jet engine turbine blades and missile nose cones.
finished product. Some ceramic products such as electrical insulators, Frequently the raw materials do not include clays.
dinnerware and tile may then undergo a glazing process. Some ceramics for
advanced applications may undergo a machining and/or polishing step in
order meet specific engineering design criteria.

TYPES OF CERAMIC MATERIALS:

1. Crystalline ceramic material – are not amenable to a great range of
processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two
categories – either make the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ,
or by "forming" powders into the desired shape, and then sintering to form a
solid body.
2. Non-crystalline ceramics – Non-crystalline ceramics, being glasses, tend to
be formed from melts. The glass is shaped when either fully molten, by
casting, or when in a state of toffee – like viscosity, by methods such as
blowing to a mold. If later heat-treatments cause this glass to become partly
crystalline, the resulting material is known as a glass-ceramic.