China, Porcelain, and Glass [2]
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Wikipedia-Article "Glass [2]"
This article refers to the material. For other uses, see Glass (disambiguation).
The materials definition of a glass is a uniform amorphous solid material, usually produced when a suitably viscous molten material cools very rapidly to below its glass transition temperature, thereby not giving enough time for a regular crystal lattice to form. A simple example is when table sugar is melted and cooled rapidly by dumping the liquid sugar onto a cold surface. The resulting solid is amorphous, not crystalline like the sugar was originally, which can be seen in its conchoidal fracture.
The word glass comes from Latin glacies (ice) and corresponds to German Glas, M.E. glas, A.S. glaes. Germanic tribes used the word glaes to describe amber, recorded by Roman historians as glaesum. Anglo-Saxons used the word glaer for amber.
The remainder of this article will be concerned with a specific type of glass—the silica-based glasses in common use as a building, container or decorative material.
In its pure form, glass is a transparent, relatively strong, hard-wearing, essentially inert, and biologically inactive material which can be formed with very smooth and impervious surfaces. These desirable properties lead to a great many uses of glass. Glass is, however, brittle and will break into sharp shards. These properties can be modified, or even changed entirely, with the addition of other compounds or heat treatment.
Common glass is about 70% amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is the same chemical compound found in quartz, or in its polycrystalline form, sand.
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Properties and Uses
One of the most obvious characteristics of ordinary glass is that it is transparent to visible light (not all glassy materials are). The transparency is due to an absence of electronic transition states in the range of visible light, and to the fact that such glass is homogeneous on all length scales greater than about a wavelength of visible light (inhomogeneities cause light to be scattered, breaking up any coherent image transmission). Ordinary glass does not allow light at a wavelength of lower than 400 nm, also known as ultraviolet light or UV, to pass. This is due to the addition of compounds such as soda ash (sodium carbonate).
Pure SiO2 glass (also called fused quartz) does not absorb UV light and is used for applications that require transparency in this region, although it is more expensive. This type of glass can be made so pure that hundreds of kilometres of glass are transparent at infrared wavelengths in fibre optic cables. Individual fibers are given an equally transparent cladding of SiO2/GeO2 glass, which has only slightly different optical properties (the germanium contributing to a lower index of refraction). Undersea cables have sections doped with erbium, which amplify transmitted signals by laser emission from within the glass itself.
Amorphous SiO2 is also used as a dielectric material in integrated circuits, due to the smooth and electrically neutral interface it forms with silicon.
Glasses used for making optical devices are commonly categorized using a six-digit glass code, or alternatively a letter-number code from the Schott Glass catalog. For example, BK7 is a low-dispersion borosilicate crown glass, and SF10 is a high-dispersion dense flint glass. The glasses are arranged by composition, refractive index, and Abbe number.
Glass is sometimes created naturally from volcanic magma. This glass is called obsidian, and is usually black with impurities. Obsidian is a raw material for flint knappers, who have used it to make extremely sharp knives since the stone age. Obsidian collection is prohibited by law in some places (including the United States), but the same toolmaking techniques can be applied to industrially-made glass.
Glass Ingredients
Pure silica (SiO2) has a melting point of about 2000 °C (3600 °F), and while it can be made into glass for special applications (see fused quartz), two other substances are always added to common glass to simplify processing. One is soda (sodium carbonate Na2CO3), or potash, the equivalent potassium compound, which lowers the melting point to about 1000 °C (1800 °F). However, the soda makes the glass water-soluble, which is obviously undesirable, so lime (calcium oxide, CaO) is the third component, added to restore insolubility. The resulting glass contains about 70% silica and is called a soda-lime glass. Soda-lime glasses account for about 90% of manufactured glass.
As well as soda and lime, most common glass has other ingredients added to change its properties. Lead glass, such as lead crystal or flint glass, is more 'brilliant' because the increased refractive index causes noticeably more 'sparkles', while boron may be added to change the thermal and electrical properties, as in Pyrex. Adding barium also increases the refractive index. Thorium oxide gives glass a high refractive index and low dispersion, and was formerly used in producing high-quality lenses, but due to its radioactivity has been replaced by lanthanum oxide in modern glasses. Large amounts of iron are used in glass that absorbs infrared energy, such as heat absorbing filters for movie projectors, while cerium(IV) oxide can be used for glass that absorbs UV wavelengths (biologically damaging ionizing radiation).
Glass as a polymer
An innovative way for making glass involves preperation by polymerization. Putting in additives that modify the properties of glass is problematic, because the high temperature of preperation destroys most of them. By polymerizing glass it is possible to embed active molecules, such as enzymes, to add a new level functionality to the glass vessels.
Colors
Metals and metal oxides are added to glass during its manufacture to change its color. Manganese can be added in small amounts to remove the green tint lent by iron, or in higher concentrations to give glass an amethyst color. Like manganese, selenium can be used in small concentrations to decolorize glass, or in higher concentrations to impart a reddish color. Small concentrations of cobalt (0.025 to 0.1%) yield blue glass. Tin oxide with antimony and arsenic oxides produce an opaque white glass, first used in Venice to produce an imitation porcelain. 2 to 3% of copper oxide produces a turquoise color. Pure metallic copper produces a very dark red, opaque glass, which is sometimes used as a substitute for gold in the production of ruby-colored glass. Nickel, depending on the concentration, produces blue, or violet, or even black glass. Adding titanium produces yellowish-brown glass. Metallic gold, in very small concentrations (around 0.001%), produces a rich ruby-colored glass, while lower concentrations produces a less intense red, often marketed as "cranberry". Uranium (0.1 to 2%) can be added to give glass a fluorescent yellow or green color. Uranium glass is typically not radioactive enough to be dangerous, but if ground into a powder, such as by polishing with sandpaper, and inhaled, it can be carcinogenic. Silver compounds (notably silver nitrate) can produce a range of colors from orange-red to yellow. The way the glass is heated and cooled can significantly affect the colors produced by these compounds. The chemistry involved is complex and not well understood. New colored glasses are frequently discovered.
History of glass
Naturally occurring glass, such as obsidian, has been used since the stone age. The first documented instructions for glass making is in Egypt around 1500 BC, when glass was used as a glaze for pottery and other items. In the first century BC the technique of blowing glass was developed and what had once been an extremely rare and valuable item became much more common. During the Roman Empire many forms of glass were created, usually for vases and bottles. Glass was made from sand, plant ash and lime. The earliest use of glass was as a colored, opaque, or transparent glaze applied to ceramics before they were fired. Small pieces of colored glass were considered valuable and often rivaled precious gems as jewelry items. As time passed, it was discovered (most likely by a potter) that if glass is heated until it becomes semi-liquid, it can be shaped and left to cool in a new, solid, independently standing shape. In the first century BC, somewhere at the eastern end of the mediterranean, a new invention caused a true revolution in the glass industry. This was the discovery of glassblowing, both free-blowing and mold-blowing. The color of "natural glass" is green to bluish green. This color is caused by the varying amounts of naturally occurring iron impurities in the sand. Common glass today usually has a slight green or blue tint, arising from these same impurities. Glassmakers learned to make colored glass by adding metallic compounds and mineral oxides to produce brilliant hues of red, green, and blue - the colors of gemstones. When gemcutters learned to cut glass, they found clear glass was an excellent refractor of light, the popularity of cut clear glass soared, that of colored glass diminished.
Glass objects from the 7th and 8th centuries have been found on the island of Torcello near Venice. These form an important link between Roman times and the later importance of that city in the production of the material. About 1000 AD, an important technical breakthrough was made in Northern Europe when soda glass was replaced by glass made from a much more readily available material: potash obtained from wood ashes. From this point on, northern glass differed significantly from that made in the Mediterranean area, where soda remained in common use.
The 11th century saw the emergence, in Germany, of new ways of making sheet glass by blowing spheres, swinging these out to form cylinders, cutting these while still hot, and then flattening the sheets. This technique was perfected in 13th century Venice.
Until the 12th century, stained glass (i.e., glass with some coloring impurities, usually metals) was not widely used.
The centre for glass making from the 14th century was Venice, which developed many new techniques and became the center of a lucrative export trade in dinner ware, mirrors, and other luxury items. Eventually some of the Venetian glass workers moved to other areas of northern Europe and glass making spread with them.
The Crown glass process was used up to the mid-1800s. In this process, the glassblower would spin around 9 lb (4 kg) of molten glass at the end of a rod until it flattened into a disk approximately 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter. The disk would then be cut into panes. Venetian glass was highly prized between the 10th and 14th centuries as they managed to keep the process secret. Around 1688, a process for casting glass was developed, which led to its becoming a much more commonly used material. The invention of the glass pressing machine in 1827 allowed the mass production of inexpensive glass articles.
The Cylinder method was invented by William J. Blenko in the early 1900s.
Art is sometimes etched into glass via acid or other caustic substance (causing the image to be eaten into the glass). Traditionally this was done by a trained artisan after the glass was blown or cast. In the 1920s a new mold-etch process was invented, in which art was etched directly into the mold, so that each cast piece emerged from the mold with the image already on the surface of the glass. This reduced manufacturing costs and, combined with a wider use of colored glass, led to cheap popular glassware in the 1930s, which later became known as Depression glass.
Glass tools
Since glass is strong and unreactive, it is a very useful material. Many household objects are made of glass. Drinking glasses, bowls, and bottles are often made of glass, as are light bulbs, mirrors, the picture tubes of computer monitors and televisions, and windows. In laboratories doing research in chemistry, biology, physics and many other fields, flasks, test tubes, lenses and other laboratory equipment are often made of glass. For these applications, borosilicate glass (such as Pyrex) is usually used for its strength and low coefficient of thermal expansion, which gives greater resistance to thermal shock and allows for greater accuracy in laboratory measurements when heating and cooling experiments. For the most demanding applications, quartz glass is used, although it is very difficult to work. Most such glass is mass-produced using various industrial processes, but most large laboratories need so much custom glassware that they keep a glassblower on staff. Volcanic glasses, such as obsidian, have long been used to make stone tools, and flint knapping techniques can easily be adapted to mass-produced glass.
Glass art
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Even with the availability of common glassware, hand blown or lampworked glassware remains popular for its artistry. Some artists in glass include Lino Tagliapietra, Sidney Waugh, Rene Lalique, Dale Chihuly, and Louis Comfort Tiffany, who were responsible for extraordinary glass objects. The term "crystal glass", derived from rock crystal, has come to denote high-grade colorless glass, often containing lead, and is sometimes applied to any fine hand-blown glass.
There are many techniques for creating fine glass art; each is suitable for certain kinds of object and unsuitable for others. Someone who works with hot glass is called a glassblower or lampworker, and these techniques are how most fine glassware is created. Glass that is manipulated in a kiln is called warm glass, and traditional stanined glass work is commonly called cold glass work. Glass can also be cut with a diamond saw, and polished to give gleaming facets.
Objects made out of glass include vessels (bowls, vases, and other containers), paperweights, marbles, beads, smoking pipes, bongs, and sculptures. Colored glass is often used, and sometimes the glass is painted, although many glassblowers consider this crude. A significant exception is the collection of pieces by the Blaschkas.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History has a collection of extremely detailed models of flowers made of painted glass. These were lampworked by Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph, who never revealed the method he used to make them. The Blaschka Glass Flowers stand as an inspiration to glassblowers today. See the Harvard Museum of Natural History's page on the exhibit for further information.
Stained glass is an art form with a long history; many churches have beautiful stained-glass windows.
Architectural glass
Float (annealed) glass
90% of the world's flat glass is produced by the float glass process invented in the 1950s by Sir Alastair Pilkington of Pilkington Glass, in which molten glass is poured onto one end of a molten tin bath. The glass floats on the tin, and levels out as it spreads along the bath, giving a smooth face to both sides. The glass cools and slowly solidifies as it travels over the molten tin and leaves the tin bath in a continuous ribbon. The glass is annealed by cooling in a temperatured controlled oven called a "lehr". The finished product has near-perfect parallel surfaces.
A very small amount of the tin is imbedded in the glass on the side it touched. The tin side is easier to make into a mirror. This "feature" quickened the switch from plate to float glass.
Glass is produced in standard metric thicknesses of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 19 and 22 mm. Molten glass floating on tin in a nitrogen/hydrogen atmosphere will spread out to a thickness of about 6mm and stop due to surface tension. Thinner glass is made by stretching the glass while it floats on the tin and cools. Similarly thicker glass is pushed back and not permitted to expand as it cools on the tin.
Annealed glass is considered a hazard in architectural applications as it breaks in large, jagged shards that can cause serious injury. Building codes across the world restrict the use of annealed glass in areas where there is a high risk of breakage and injury, for example in bathrooms, in door panels, fire exits and at low heights in schools.
Sheet glass
Before Pilkington's invention, flat glass panels were generally made as plate glass or sheet glass. Sheet glass (sometimes called window glass or drawn glass) was made by dipping a leader into a vat of molten glass then pulling that leader straight up while a film of glass hardened just out of the vat. This film or ribbon was pulled up continiously held by tractors on both edges while it cooled. After 12 meters or so it was cut off the vertical ribbon and tipped down to be further cut. This glass is clear but has thickness variations due to small temperature changes just out of the vat as it was hardening. These variations cause lines of slight distortions. You may still see this glass in older houses. Float glass replaced this proce