IME351 Manufacturing Technology

Presented By:
Dr. Elhaj A. I. Ahmed
School of Engineering,
Mechatronics Engineering Department

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 Glass Working

 Raw Materials Preparation and Melting.

 Shaping Processes in Glassworking.

 Heat Treatment and Finishing

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 Overview of the Material

 Glass is one of three basic types of ceramics,

 The others are traditional ceramics and new

ceramics

 Glass is distinguished by its non crystalline

(vitreous) structure

 The other ceramic materials have a crystalline

structure

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 Glass Products
 Glass products are commercially produced in almost unlimited

variety of shapes.

 Most products are made in very large quantities:

 Light bulbs, beverage bottles, jars, Window glass, Glass

tubing (e.g., for fluorescent lighting), Glass fibers.

 Other products are made individually:

 Giant telescope lenses

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 Shaping Methods for Glass
 Methods for shaping glass are quite different from those used for

others type of traditional and new ceramics. Why?

 In glassworking, the principal starting material is silica, usually

combined with other oxide ceramics that form glasses.

 The starting material is heated to transform it from a hard solid into

a viscous liquid; then it shaped into the desired geometry.

 When cooled and hard, the material remains in the glassy state

rather than crystallizing

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 Shaping Methods for Glass
 The typical process sequence in glassworking:
1) preparation of raw materials and melting,
2) shaping,
3) heat treatment.

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 Raw Materials Preparation

 The principal component in all glasses is silica (SiO2).

 Primary source is natural quartz in sand.
 Other components, such as:
 Soda ash (source of Na2O),
 Limestone (source of CaO),
 Aluminum oxide (Al2O3),
 Potash (source of K2O),
 Recycled glass is usually added to the mixture too.
 In addition to preserving the environment, recycled glass
facilitates melting.
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 Glass Melting

 The set of starting materials to be melted is called a charge, and

loading it into the furnace is called charging the furnace.
 Melting temperatures for glass are around 1500C to 1600C.
 Melting cycle for a typical charge is 24 to 48 hours.
 The viscosity of molten glass is inversely related to temperature.
 Since shaping immediately follows melting, the temperature at
which the glass is tapped depends on the viscosity required for
the shaping process.

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 Glass Melting
 Glass melting furnaces can be divided into the following types :

1) Pot furnaces—ceramic pots of limited capacity in which melting occurs by

heating the walls of the pot;

2) Day tanks—larger capacity vessels for batch production in which heating is

done by burning fuels above the charge;

3) Continuous tank furnaces—long tank furnaces in which raw materials are fed

in one end and melted, as they move to the other end where molten glass is

drawn out for high production;

4) Electric furnaces - various designs for a wide range of production rates.

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 Shaping Processes in Glassworking

 Shaping processes to fabricate class products can be grouped into

three categories:
1) Discrete processes for piece ware (bottles, jars, plates, light
bulbs)
2) Continuous processes for making flat glass (sheet and plate
glass) and tubing (laboratory ware, fluorescent lights)
3) Fiber-making processes to produce fibers (for insulation and
fiber optics)

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 Shaping of Piece Ware
 Ancient methods of hand-working glass included glass blowing.
 Handicraft methods are still used today for making glassware
items of high value in small quantities.
 Highly mechanized technologies are most modern glass shaping
processes for producing discrete pieces such as jars, bottles, and
light bulbs in high quantities.
 Spinning
 Pressing
 Blowing
 Casting

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 Shaping of Piece Ware
 Spinning of funnel-shaped glass parts:
1) Gob of glass dropped into mold; and
2) Rotation of mold to cause spreading of molten glass on mold
surface.

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 Shaping of Piece Ware
 Pressing of a flat glass piece:
 (1) a gob of glass fed into mold from the furnace; (2) pressing into shape
by plunger; and (3) plunger is withdrew and the finished product is
removed.

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 Shaping of Piece Ware
 Press-and-blow forming sequence:
(1) molten gob is fed into mold cavity; (2) pressing to form a parison; (3)
the partially formed parison, held in a neck ring, is transferred to the blow
mold; and (4) blown into final shape.

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 Shaping of Piece Ware
 Blow-and-blow forming sequence: (1) gob is fed into inverted mold
cavity; (2) mold is covered; (3) first blowing step; (4) partially formed
piece is reoriented and transferred to second blow mold; and (5) blown
to final shape

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 Casting

 If molten glass is sufficiently fluid, it can be poured into a

mold
 Astronomical lenses and mirrors products are made by
casting.
 After cooling and solidifying, the piece must be finished
by lapping and polishing
 Casting of glass is not often used except for special jobs
 Smaller lenses are usually made by pressing

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 Shaping of Flat and Tubular Glass

Shaping of flat and tubular glass is:

 Processes for producing flat glass such as sheet glass
, and plate glass:
 Rolling of glass flat plate
 Float process for glass sheet
 Process for producing glass tubes
 Danner process

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 Rolling of Flat Plate
 Starting glass from melting furnace is pressed through
opposing rolls whose gap determines sheet thickness,
followed by grinding and polishing for parallelism and
Smoothness.

Figure : Rolling of flat glass.

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 Float Process
 Molten glass flows onto the surface of a molten tin bath, where it
spreads uniformly across the surface.
 Achieving a uniform thickness and smoothness
 No grinding or polishing is needed.

Figure: The float process for

producing sheet glass.
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 Danner Process
 Molten glass flows around a rotating hollow mandrel through
which air is blown while the glass is drawn.

Figure : Drawing of glass

tubes by the Danner process.
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 Forming of Glass Fibers
 Glass fiber products can be divided into two categories, each has
different production methods.
1. Fibrous glass products for thermal insulation, acoustical
insulation, and air filtration
 Produced by centrifugal spraying
2. Long continuous filaments products suitable for fiber
reinforced plastics, yarns, fabrics, and fiber optics
 Produced by drawing

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 Centrifugal Spraying

 Molten glass flows into a rotating bowl with

many small orifices around its periphery
(margin).
 Centrifugal force causes the glass to flow
through the holes to become a fibrous mass
suitable for thermal and acoustical insulation.

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 Drawing of Continuous Filaments

 Continuous glass fibers of small diameter

(lower limit is about 0.0025 mm) are
produced by drawing (pulling) elements of
molten glass through small orifices heated
plate.
 The individual fibers are collected into a
element by revolving them onto a spool.
 Before spooling, the fibers are coated with
various chemicals to lubricate and protect
them.

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 Heat Treatment:
Annealing of Glass:
 Heating to elevated temperature, and holding for a time
to eliminate stresses and temperature gradients,
 Then, slow cooling to suppress stress formation, followed
by more rapid cooling to room temperature
 Hardening temperatures are around 500C
 Annealing has the same function in glassworking as in
metalworking – to relieve stresses

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 Heat Treatment
Tempering of Glass:
 Heating to a temperature somewhat above annealing temperature into
the plastic range, followed by cooling of surfaces(usually by air jets).
 When the surfaces cool, they contract and harden, while interior is
still plastic.
 As the internal glass cools, it contracts putting the hard surfaces in
compression.
 Tempered glass is more resistant to scratching and breaking due to
compressive stresses on its surfaces.
 Glass Products: windows for tall buildings, all-glass doors, safety glasses

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