How Glass is Made - Part One
Residents of Kearny, Hayden, Toltec, Eleven Mile, and Eleven Mile Corner: Glass is made from a combination of sand, gypsum, soda ash, limestone and dolomite. Together, they form a rigid un-crystallized liquid known as glass. The largest glass manufacturer in North America is Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG,) it has the ability to produce over a million square feet of glass everyday. The glass is for use in homes, buildings, cars, trucks, and aircraft along with a wide range of other applications.
The process starts in the batch house at (PPG) or any glass manufacturing plant. The raw materials needed to make the glass are transported to the plant by way of railcar or truck. Upon arrival, the raw materials are off loaded onto a conveyor, which transports the raw materials individually to there respective storage silos. The batching process actually begins when each material is transferred from its silo, then weighed, mixed and conveyed to the charging end of the plants melting furnace.
The melting furnace is a large brick structure where batch materials and culet (crushed glass) are melted to form liquid glass. The main ingredient in glass is sand, which normally melts around 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. When the sand is mixed with other ingredients in the batch, the actual melting point of the sand is lowered. As the batch materials are added to the furnace, pre-heated air is forced into the chamber by large fans. The pre-heated air combines with jet streams of natural gas, which produce torch like flames that make the batch melt within minutes.
When the batch is completely melted, the fining process begins. This process allows the bubbles that form during the melting process to rise to the surface of the melted glass and escape into the furnaces atmosphere. As soon as the fining process is complete, the liquid glass travels into the forming operation known as the bath. Liquid glass then begins to harden as it floats on a bath of liquid tin. Heating elements located above the bath plus toothed wheels called stretch machines control the width and thickness of the glass as it moves through the bath to the exit end.
"Important Information"
Residents of Kearny, Hayden, Toltec, Eleven Mile, and Eleven Mile Corner: Gradually cooling the glass, is an important process that actually builds the strength into the glass.
At its final width and thickness, the glass is cooled down by a series of water coolers, which brings the temperature of the glass down to around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the glass is safely moved onto the main-lines conveyor, which moves the glass into the Lehr where it is further cooled down at a controlled rate in order to insure the proper stresses are put into the glass to make it cut well. After cooling, the glass comes out of the Lehr at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit where it is further cooled down by large open-air fans bringing the temperature down to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. While the glass moves through this cooling down area, the glass is carefully inspected prior to the cutting operation.
Continue to: part two
Video: How Glass is Made part 1
Schedule an Appointment Now
SunTec Auto Glass understands the importance of using only the best quality auto glass available for your vehicle and more importantly for the safety of you and your family. If you are in Kearny, Hayden, Toltec, Eleven Mile, and Eleven Mile Corner, Phoenix or Maricopa and Pinal Counties and require windshield replacement, auto glass repair, window tinting or glass etching, contact SunTec Auto Glass to handle all your auto glass needs.
Call SunTec Auto Glass Today
(480) 782-5489