Have you ever wondered how companies manufacture glass? What about where it comes from? Glass has multi purpose-use. Many industries utilize glass for practical, aesthetic, or conventional use. We use glass in our daily lives when we drink from glass cups, mount glass fixtures, and even build all-glass homes. Glass is appealing for its translucent appearance and glinting shine. But where does it come from? In today’s blog by Roto-Disc, we discuss how a glass batch and glass products are connected and the numerous ways we use them in our everyday live
How the Glass Making Process Works: What Is a Glass Batch?
Glass manufacturing involves 3 different steps:
1. Fusion of raw materials
2. Working with molten mass
3. Annealing
The materials used to create a glass batch include soda ash, limestone, and sand. These elements are mixed and ground together to create a powdered solution known as a batch. Cullet is recycled waste glass integrated with a batch mix to lower the melting temperature of the raw materials. The batch and cullet are heated together in industrial equipment to a specific melting point, where the properties react to form liquid glass. This liquid glass is also known as the molten mass set aside to cool while still maintaining its liquid form.
For the production of glass products, the molten liquid is poured into glass templates and molds to produce various shapes and designs. Rapidly cooled glass is sensitive and fragile. The mold is passed down a conveyor belt going from a high to a low-temperature state, slowly cooling and becoming more transparent as the temperature lowers. This conveyor belt cooling process is known as annealing. Annealing affirms and strengthens the fragile state of the glass, making it more durable and ready for use.
Types of Glass and Our Everyday Uses
We use glass in many industries, from hospitality, medicine, packaging, tableware, housing, and more. At Roto-Disc, we manufacture and incorporate glass batches into our personal and commercial industrial equipment. These are the types of glass we used in our daily lives:
Soft Glass: Utilized for soda bottles and window designs
Pyrex glass: Scientists use Pyrex glass in laboratory settings due to its durable properties suitable for dangerous chemicals and high-temperature solutions.
Quartz glass: Found primarily in electrical bulbs and ophthalmic instruments
Flint glass: Designed for optic lenses and lucid vision
Borosilicate Glass: This glass is also known as baking dish glass due to its resistance to shock and high temperatures; this glass is also helpful in a laboratory environment.
Roto-Disc Offers Industry-Grade Material and Applications
We are a proven and trusted manufacturer of spherical valves, Airlock/Double-Dump valves and more, providing top-tier industry-grade engineering. For over 35 years, we have been supplying highly customized advanced designs to meet the needs of our clientele and partnering industries. For more details about our services, contact Roto-Disc today.
