Colored Glasses 
A report on colored glasses 
 
Author  :Ammar Ahmad 
 
 
8/30/2010 
 
 Glass
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material. Glasses are typically brittle, and
often optically transparent. Glass is commonly used for windows, bottles, and eyewear;
examples of glassy materials include soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar
glass, Muscovy-glass, and aluminium oxynitride. The term glass developed in the late Roman
Empire. It was in the Roman glassmaking center at Trier, now in modern Germany, that the
late-Latin term glesum originated, probably from a Germanic word for a transparent,
lustrous substance.

Strictly speaking, a glass is defined as an inorganic product of fusion which has been
cooled through its glass transition to the solid state
without crystallising. Many glasses contain silica as their
main component and glass former. The term "glass" is,
however, often extended to all amorphous solids (and
melts that easily form amorphous solids), including
plastics, resins, or other silica-free amorphous solids. In
addition, besides traditional melting techniques, any
other means of preparation are considered, such as ion implantation, and the sol-gel
method. Commonly, glass science and physics deal only with inorganic amorphous solids,
while plastics and similar organics are covered by polymer science, biology and further
scientific disciplines.

Glass plays an essential role in science and industry. The

optical and physical properties of glass make it suitable
for applications such as flat glass, container glass, optics
and optoelectronics material, laboratory equipment,
thermal insulator (glass wool), reinforcement fiber
(glass-reinforced plastic, glass fiber reinforced
concrete), and art.
 History of glass
Origins of glass making

Naturally occurring glass, especially the volcanic glass obsidian, has been used by many
Stone Age societies across the globe for the production of sharp cutting tools and, due to
its limited source areas, was extensively traded. But in general, archaeological evidence
suggests that the first true glass was made in coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or Old
Kingdom Egypt. Because of Egypt's favorable environment for preservation, the majority
of well-studied early glass is found there, although some of this is likely to have been
imported. The earliest known glass objects, of the mid third millennium BCE, were beads,
perhaps initially created as accidental by-products of metal-working slags or during the
production of faience, a pre-glass vitreous material made by a process similar to glazing.

During the Late Bronze Age in Egypt (e.g., the Ahhotep "Treasure") and Western Asia (e.g.
Megiddo) there was a rapid growth in glass-making technology. Archaeological finds from
this period include colored glass ingots, vessels (often colored and shaped in imitation of
highly prized hardstone carvings in semi-precious stones) and the ubiquitous beads. The
alkali of Syrian and Egyptian glass was soda ash, sodium carbonate, which can be extracted
from the ashes of many plants, notably halophile seashore plants: (see saltwort). The
earliest vessels were 'core-wound', produced by winding a ductile rope of glass round a
shaped core of sand and clay over a metal rod, then fusing it with repeated reheatings.
Threads of thin glass of different colors made with admixtures of oxides were
subsequently wound around these to create patterns, which could be drawn into festoons
by using metal raking tools. The vessel would then be rolled flat ('marvered') on a slab in
order to press the decorative threads into its body. Handles and feet were applied
separately. The rod was subsequently allowed to cool as the glass slowly annealed and was
eventually removed from the center of the vessel, after which the core material was
scraped out. Glass shapes for inlays were also often created in moulds. Much early glass
production, however, relied on grinding techniques borrowed from stone working. This
meant that the glass was ground and carved in a cold state.

By the 15th century BCE extensive glass production was occurring in Western Asia, Crete
and Egypt and the Mycenaean Greek term ku-wa-no-wo-ko meaning "worker of lapis lazuli
and glass" (written in Linear b syllabic script) is attested. It is thought the techniques and
recipes required for the initial fusing of glass from raw materials was a closely guarded
technological secret reserved for the large palace industries of powerful states. Glass
workers in other areas therefore relied on imports of pre-formed glass, often in the form
of cast ingots such as those found on the Ulu Burun shipwreck off the coast of modern
Turkey.

Glass remained a luxury material, and the disasters that overtook Late Bronze Age
civilizations seem to have brought glass-making to a halt. It picked up again in its former
sites, in Syria and Cyprus, in the ninth century BCE, when the techniques for making
colorless glass were discovered. The first glassmaking "manual" dates back to ca. 650 BCE.
Instructions on how to make glass are contained in cuneiform tablets discovered in the
library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. In Egypt glass-making did not revive until it was
reintroduced in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Core-formed vessels and beads were still widely
produced, but other techniques came to the fore with experimentation and technological
advancements. During the Hellenistic period many new techniques of glass production were
introduced and glass began to be used to make larger pieces, notably table wares.
Techniques developed during this period include 'slumping' viscous (but not fully molten)
glass over a mould in order to form a dish and 'millefiori' (meaning 'thousand flowers')
technique, where canes of multi-colored glass were sliced and the slices arranged together
and fused in a mould to create a mosaic-like effect. It was also during this period that
colorless or decolored glass began to be prized and methods for achieving this effect were
investigated more fully.

According to Pliny the Elder, Phoenician traders were the first to stumble upon glass
manufacturing techniques at the site of the Belus River. Georgius Agricola, in De re
metallica, reported a traditional serendipitous "discovery" tale of familiar type:

"The tradition is that a merchant ship laden with nitrum being moored at this place, the
merchants were preparing their meal on the beach, and not having stones to prop up their
pots, they used lumps of nitrum from the ship, which fused and mixed with the sands of
the shore, and there flowed streams of a new translucent liquid, and thus was the origin of
glass."

This account is more a reflection of Roman experience of glass production, however, as

white silica sand from this area was used in the production of Roman glass due to its low
impurity levels.

During the first century BCE glass blowing was discovered on the Syro-Palestinian coast,
revolutionising the industry and laying the way for the growth of glass production that
occurred throughout the Roman world. It was the Romans who began to use glass for
architectural purposes, with the discovery of clear glass (through the introduction of
manganese oxide), in Alexandria ca. AD 100. Cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical
qualities, thus began to appear in the most important buildings in Rome and the most
luxurious villas of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Over the next 1,000 years glass making and
working continued and spread through southern Europe and beyond.

History by culture

India (Hindu Kingdoms)

ndigenous development of glass technology in South Asia may have begun in 1730 BCE.
Evidence of this culture includes a red-brown glass bead along with a hoard of beads
dating to that period, making it the earliest attested glass from the Indus Valley locations.
Glass discovered from later sites dating from 600–300 BCE displays common color.

Chalcolithic evidence of glass has been found in Hastinapur, India. Some of the texts
which mention glass in India are the Shatapatha Brahmana and Vinaya Pitaka. However, the
first unmistakable evidence in large quantities, dating from the 3rd century BCE, has been
uncovered from the archaeological site in Takshashila, ancient India.

By the first century C.E., glass was being used for ornaments and casing in South Asia.
Contact with the Greco-Roman world added newer techniques, and Indians artisans
mastered several techniques of glass molding, decorating and coloring by the succeeding
centuries. The Satavahana period of India also produced short cylinders of composite
glass, including those displaying a lemon yellow matrix covered with green glass.

Romans

Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire in domestic, industrial
and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although
mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman glass production developed from
Hellenistic technical traditions, initially concentrating on the production of intensely
colored cast glass vessels. However, during the first century AD the industry underwent
rapid technical growth that saw the introduction of glass blowing and the dominance of
colorless or ‘aqua’ glasses. Production of raw glass was undertaken in geographically
separate locations to the working of glass into finished vessels, and by the end of the first
century AD large scale manufacturing resulted in the establishment of glass as a commonly
available material in the Roman world.
Anglo-Saxon world
Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of
both settlement and cemetery sites. Glass in the Anglo-Saxon period was used in the
manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, windows and was even used in
jewelry. In the 5th century AD with the Roman departure from Britain, there were also
considerable changes in the usage of glass. Excavation of Romano-British sites have
revealed plentiful amounts of glass but, in contrast, the amount recovered from 5th
century and later Anglo-Saxon sites is minuscule. The majority of complete vessels and
assemblages of beads come from the excavations of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, but a
change in burial rites in the late 7th century affected the recovery of glass, as Christian
Anglo-Saxons were buried with fewer grave goods, and glass is rarely found. From the late
7th century onwards, window glass is found more frequently. This is directly related to the
introduction of Christianity and the construction of churches and monasteries. There are a
few Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical literary sources that mention the production and use of
glass, although these relate to window glass used in ecclesiastical buildings. Glass was also
used by the Anglo-Saxons in their jewelry, both as enamel or as cut glass insets.

Islamic world
The Arab poet al-Buhturi (820–897) described the clarity of such glass, "Its color hides
the glass as if it is standing in it without a container."

Stained glass was also first produced by Muslim architects in Southwest Asia using
colored glass rather than stone.[citation needed] In the 8th century, the Persian chemist
Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) scientifically described 46 original recipes for producing colored
glass in Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (The Book of the Hidden Pearl), in addition to 12 recipes
inserted by al-Marrakishi in a later edition of the book.

By the 11th century, clear glass mirrors were being produced in Islamic Spain.

Medieval Europe
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. Around 1000 AD, an important technical
breakthrough was made in Northern Europe when soda
glass, produced from white pebbles and burnt
vegetation 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.

Until the 12th century, stained glass – glass to which metallic or other impurities had been
added for coloring – was not widely used, but it rapidly became an important medium for
Romanesque art and especially Gothic art. Almost all survivals are in church buildings, but
it was also used in grand secular buildings.

The 11th century saw the emergence in Germany of new ways of making sheet glass by
blowing spheres. The spheres were swung out to form cylinders and then cut while still
hot, after which the sheets were flattened. This technique was perfected in 13th century
Venice.

The Crown glass process was used up to the mid-19th century. In this process, the
glassblower would spin approximately 9 pounds (4 kg) of molten glass at the end of a rod
until it flattened into a disk approximately 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter. The disk would then
be cut into panes.

Domestic glass vessels in late medieval Northern Europe are known as Forest glass.

Murano glassmaking
The center for luxury Italian glassmaking from the 14th century was the island of Murano,
which developed many new techniques and became the center of a lucrative export trade in
dinnerware, mirrors, and other items. What made Venetian Murano glass significantly
different was that the local quartz pebbles were almost pure silica, and were ground into a
fine clear sand that was combined with soda ash obtained from the Levant, for which the
Venetians held the sole monopoly. The clearest and finest glass is tinted in two ways:
firstly, a natural coloring agent is ground and melted with the glass. Many of these coloring
agents still exist today; for a list of coloring agents, see below. Black glass was called
obsidianus after obsidian stone. A second method is apparently to produce a black glass
which, when held to the light, will show the true color that this glass will give to another
glass when used as a dye.

The Venetian ability to produce this superior form of glass resulted in a trade advantage
over other glass producing lands. Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born
when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire might burn down the city’s mostly wood buildings,
ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano's glassmakers
were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. Glassmakers were not allowed to leave the
Republic. Many took a risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield
as England and the Netherlands.

Glass batch calculation

Glass batch calculation or glass batching is used to determine the correct mix of raw
materials (batch) for a glass melt.

Principle

The raw materials mixture for glass melting is termed "batch". The batch calculation is
based on the common linear regression equation:

NB = (BT·B)-1·BT·NG

with NB and NG being the molarities 1-column matrices of the batch and glass components
respectively, and B being the batching matrix. The symbol "T" stands for the matrix
transpose operation, "-1" indicates matrix inversion, and the sign "·" means the scalar
product. From the molarities matrices N, percentages by weight (wt%) can easily be
derived using the appropriate molar masses.

Example calculation

An example batch calculation may be demonstrated here. The desired glass composition in
wt% is: 67 SiO2, 12 Na2O, 10 CaO, 5 Al2O3, 1 K2O, 2 MgO, 3 B2O3, and as raw materials
are used sand, trona, lime, albite, orthoclase, dolomite, and borax. The formulas and molar
masses of the glass and batch components are listed in the following table:

Formula Desired Molar mass Batch Formula of batch Molar

of glass concentration of glass component component mass of
component of glass component, batch
component, g/mol component,
wt% g/mol
SiO2 67 60.0843 Sand SiO2 60.0843
Na2O 12 61.9789 Trona Na3H(CO3)2*2H2O 226.0262
CaO 10 56.0774 Lime CaCO3 100.0872
Al2O3 5 101.9613 Albite Na2O*Al2O3*6SiO2 524.4460
K2O 1 94.1960 Orthoclase K2O*Al2O3*6SiO2 556.6631
MgO 2 40.3044 Dolomite MgCa(CO3)2 184.4014
B2O3 3 69.6202 Borax Na2B4O7*10H2O 381.3721
The batching matrix B indicates the relation of the molarity in the batch (columns) and in the glass
(rows). For example, the batch component SiO2 adds 1 mol SiO2 to the glass, therefore, the
intersection of the first column and row shows "1". Trona adds 1.5 mol Na2O to the glass; albite
adds 6 mol SiO2, 1 mol Na2O, and 1 mol Al2O3, and so on. For the example given above, the complete
batching matrix is listed below. The molarity matrix NG of the glass is simply determined by dividing
the desired wt% concentrations by the appropriate molar masses, e.g., for SiO2 67/60.0843 =
1.1151.

The resulting molarity matrix of the batch, NB, is given here. After multiplication with the
appropriate molar masses of the batch ingredients one obtains the batch mass fraction matrix
MB:

The matrix MB, normalized to sum up to 100% as seen above, contains the final batch
composition in wt%: 39.216 sand, 16.012 trona, 10.242 lime, 16.022 albite, 4.699
orthoclase, 7.276 dolomite, 6.533 borax. If this batch is melted to a glass, the desired
composition given above is obtained. During glass melting, carbon dioxide (from trona, lime,
dolomite) and water (from trona, borax) evaporate.

Another simple glass batch calculation can be found at the website of the University of
Washington.
 Glass production
Glass ingredients
Pure silica (SiO2) has a "glass melting point"— at a viscosity of 10 Pa·s (100 P)— of over
2300 °C (4200 °F). While pure silica can be made into glass for special applications (see
fused quartz), other substances are added to common
glass to simplify processing. One is sodium carbonate
(Na2CO3), which lowers the melting point to about
1500 °C (2700 °F) in soda-lime glass; "soda" refers to
the original source of sodium carbonate in the soda ash
obtained from certain plants. However, the soda makes
the glass water soluble, which is usually undesirable, so
lime (calcium oxide (CaO), generally obtained from
limestone), some magnesium oxide (MgO) and aluminium
oxide (Al2O3) are added to provide for a better
chemical durability. The resulting glass contains about Quartz sand (silica) as main raw material
for commercial glass production
70 to 74% silica by weight and is called a soda-lime
glass. Soda-lime glasses account for about 90% of manufactured glass.

Most common glass has other ingredients added to

change its properties. Lead glass 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 eye
glasses. Large amounts of iron are used in glass that Oldest mouth-blown window-glass in Sweden

absorbs infrared energy, such as heat absorbing filters (Kosta Glasbruk, Småland, 1742). In the
middle is the mark from the glass blower's
for movie projectors, while cerium(IV) oxide can be pipe.
used for glass that absorbs UV wavelengths.

Another common glass ingredient is "cullet" (recycled glass). The recycled glass saves on
raw materials and energy. However, impurities in the cullet can lead to product and
equipment failure.
Finally, fining agents such as sodium sulfate, sodium chloride, or antimony oxide are added
to reduce the bubble content in the glass.[8] Glass batch calculation is the method by
which the correct raw material mixture is determined to achieve the desired glass
composition.

Glass production comprehends two types of glass:

1- sheet glass, made by the float glass process

2- glass-container glass.

Glass container production

Glass container factories

Broadly, modern glass container factories are three-part operations: the batch
house, the hot end, and the cold end. The batch house handles the raw materials;
the hot end handles the manufacture proper — the furnaces, annealing ovens, and
forming machines; and the cold end handles the product-inspection and -packaging
equipment

Hot end

The following table lists common viscosity fixpoints, applicable to large-scale glass
production and experimental glass melting in the laboratory:

log10(η, log10(η Description

Pa·s) , P)
1 2 Melting Point (glass melt homogenization and fining)
3 4 Working Point (pressing, blowing, gob forming)
4 5 Flow Point
6.6 7.6 Littleton Softening Point (Glass deforms visibly under its own
weight. Standard procedures ASTM C338, ISO 7884-3)
8-10 9-11 Dilatometric Softing Point, Td, depending on load
10.5 11.5 Deformation Point (Glass deforms under its own weight on the μm-
scale within a few hours.)
11-12.3 12-13.3 Glass Transition Temperature, Tg
12 13 Annealing Point (Stress is relieved within several minutes.)
13.5 14.5 Strain Point (Stress is relieved within several hours.)
Furnace

The hot end of a glassworks is where the molten glass is

formed into Glass Products; beginning when the batch is fed
into the furnace at a slow, controlled rate. The furnaces
are natural gas- or fuel oil-fired, and operate at
temperatures up to 1575°C. The temperature is limited
only by the quality of the furnace’s superstructure material
and by the glass composition.

Froming Process

There are, currently, two primary methods of making a glass

container — the blow and blow method and the press and blow
method. In both cases a stream of molten glass, at its plastic
temperature (1050°C-1200°C), is cut with a shearing blade to
form a cylinder of glass, called a gob. Both processes start with
the gob falling, by gravity, and guided, through troughs and chutes, into the blank moulds.
In the blow and blow process, the glass is first blown from below, into the blank moulds, to
create a parison, or pre-container. The parison is then flipped over into a final mould,
where a final blow blows the glass out, in to the mould, to make the final container shape.
In the case of press and blow process, the parison is formed with a metal plunger, which
pushes the glass out, into the blank mould. The process then continues as before, with the
parison being transferred to the mould, and the glass being blown out into the mould.

Blow-blow-process (on Form of parison and dito, press-blow (narrow

IS machine) finished bottle - blow- neck)
blow
Forming machines
The forming machines hold and move the parts that form the container. Generally powered by
compressed air, the mechanisms are timed to coordinate the
movement of all these parts so that containers are made.

The most widely used forming machine arrangement is

the individual section machine (or IS machine). This machine
has a bank of 5-20 identical sections, each of which contains
one complete set of mechanisms to make containers. The
sections are in a row, and the gobs feed into each section via a
moving chute, called the gob distributor. Sections make either one, two, three or four containers
simultaneously. (Referred to as single, double, triple and quad gob). In the case of multiple gobs,
the shears cut the gobs simultaneously, and they fall into the blank moulds in parallel.

Internal treatment

After the forming process, some containers—particularly those intended for alcoholic
spirits—undergo a treatment to improve the chemical resistance of the inside, called
internal treatment or dealkalization. This is usually accomplished through the injection of
a sulfur- or fluorine-containing gas mixture into bottles at high temperatures. The gas is
typically delivered to the container either in the air used in the forming process (that is,
during the final blow of the container), or through a nozzle directing a stream of the gas
into the mouth of the bottle after forming. The treatment renders the container more
resistant to alkali extraction, which can cause increases in product pH, and in some cases
container degradation.

Annealing

As glass cools it shrinks and solidifies. Uneven cooling causes weak glass due to stress.
Even cooling is achieved by annealing. An annealing oven (known in the industry as a Lehr)
heats the container to about 580°C then cools it, depending on the glass thickness, over a
20 – 6000 minute period.

Cold end

The role of the cold end is to inspect the containers for defects, package the containers
for shipment and label the containers.
Inspection equipment

Glass containers are 100% inspected; automatic machines, or sometimes persons, inspect
every container for a variety of faults. Typical faults include small cracks in the glass
called checks and foreign inclusions called stones which are pieces of the refractory brick
lining of the melting furnace that break off and fall into the pool of molten glass which
subsequently are included in the final product. These are especially important to select out
due to the fact that they can impart a destructive element to the final glass product. For
example, since these materials can withstand large amounts of themal energy, they can
cause the glass product to sustain thermal shock resulting in explosive destruction when
heated. Other defects include bubbles in the glass called blisters and excessively thin
walls. Another defect common in glass manufacturing is referred to as a tear. In the press
and blow forming, if a plunger and mould are out of alignment, or heated to an incorrect
temperature, the glass will stick to either item and become torn. In addition to rejecting
faulty containers, inspection equipment gathers statistical information and relays it to the
forming machine operators in the hot end. Computer systems collect fault information to
the mould that produced the container. This is done by reading the mould number on the
container, which is encoded (as a numeral, or a binary code of dots) on the container by
the mould that made it. Operators carry out a range of checks manually on samples of
containers, usually visual and dimensional checks.

Secondary processing

Sometimes container factories will offer services such as labelling. Several labelling
technologies are available. Unique to glass is the Applied Ceramic Labelling process (ACL).
This is screen-printing of the decoration onto the container with a vitreous enamel paint,
which is then baked on. An example of this is the original Coca-Cola bottle. The Absolut
Bottles have various added services such as: Etching ( Absolut Citron/) Coating (Absolut
Raspberry/Ruby Red)and Applied Ceramic Labelling ( Absolut Blue/Pears/Red/Black)

Packaging

Glass containers are packaged in various ways. Popular in Europe are bulk pallets with
between 1000 and 4000 containers each. This is carried out by automatic machines
(palletisers) which arrange and stack containers separated by layer sheets. Other
possibilities include boxes and even hand sewn sacks. Once packed the new "stock units"
are labelled and warehoused.
Coatings

Glass containers typically receive two surface coatings, one at the hot end, just before
annealing and one at the cold end just after annealing. At the hot end a very thin layer of
tin oxide is applied either using a safe organic compound or inorganic stannic chloride. Tin
based systems are not the only ones used, although the most popular. Titanium
tetrachloride or organo titanates can also be used. In all cases the coating renders the
surface of the glass more adhesive to the cold end coating. At the cold end a layer of
typically, polyethylene wax, is applied via a water based emulsion. This makes the glass
slippery, protecting it from scratching and stopping containers from sticking together
when they are moved on a conveyor. The resultant invisible combined coating gives a
virtually unscratchable surface to the glass. Due to reduction of in-service surface damage
the coatings often are described as strengtheners, however a more correct definition
might be strength retaining coatings.

Ancillary processes – compressors & cooling

Forming machines are largely powered by compressed air and a typical glass works will have
several large compressors (totaling 30k-60k cfm) to provide the needed compressed air.
Furnaces, compressors and forming machine generate quantities of waste heat which is
generally cooled by water. Hot glass which is not used in the forming machine is diverted
and this diverted glass (called cullet) is generally cooled by water, and sometime even
processed and crushed in a water bath arrangement. Often cooling requirements are
shared over banks of cooling towers arranged to allow for backup during maintenance.

Marketing

Glass container manufacture in the developed world is a mature market business. Annual
growth in total industry sales generally follows population growth. Glass container
manufacture is also a geographical business; the product is heavy and large in volume, and
the major raw materials (sand, soda ash and limestone) are generally readily available,
therefore production facilities need to be located close to their markets. A typical glass
furnace holds hundreds of tonnes of molten glass, and so it is simply not practical to shut
it down every night, or in fact in any period short of a month. Factories therefore run 24
hours a day 7 days a week. This means that there is little opportunity to either increase or
decrease production rates by more than a few percent. New furnaces and forming
machines cost tens of millions of dollars and require at least 18 months of planning. Given
this fact, and the fact that there are usually more products than machine lines means that
products are sold from stock. The marketing/production challenge is therefore to be able
to predict demand both in the short 4-12 week term and over the 24-48 month long term.
Factories are generally sized to service the requirements of a city; in developed countries
there is usually a factory per 1-2 million people. A typical factory will produce 1-3 million
containers a day. Despite its positioning as a mature market product, glass does enjoy a
high level of consumer acceptance and is perceived as a “premium” quality packaging
format.

Lifecycle impact

Glass containers are wholly recyclable and the industry in many countries retains a policy
(or is forced to by Government) of maintaining a high price on cullet to ensure high return
rates. Return rates of 95% are not uncommon in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway,
Denmark and Finland). Return rates of less than 50% are usual in other countries. Of
course glass containers can also be reused, and in developing countries this is common,
however the environmental impact of washing the container as against remelting them is
uncertain. Factors to consider here are the chemicals and fresh water used in the washing,
and the fact that a single use container can be made much lighter, using less than half the
glass (and therefore energy content) of a multiuse container. Also, a significant factor in
the developed world's consideration of reuse are producer concerns over the risk and
consequential product liability of using a component (the reused container) of unknown and
unqualified safety. How glass containers compare to other packaging types (plastic,
cardboard, aluminium) is hard to say, conclusive lifecycle studies are yet to be produced.
 Colored / Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works made from it.
Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the
windows of churches and other significant buildings. Although traditionally made in flat
panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include
three-dimensional structures and sculpture.

Modern vernacular usage has often extended the term "stained glass" to include domestic
leadlight and objets d'art created from lead came and copper foil glasswork exemplified in
the famous lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

As a material stained glass is glass that has been

coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture.
The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows
in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form
patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by
strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. Painted
details and yellow stain are often used to enhance the
design. The term stained glass is also applied to windows
in which the colours have been painted onto the glass and
then fused to the glass in a kiln.

Stained glass, as an art and a craft, requires the artistic

skill to conceive an appropriate and workable design, and
the engineering skills to assemble the piece. A window
must fit snugly into the space for which it is made, must
resist wind and rain, and also, especially in the larger
A large Perpendicular style Gothic window
windows, must support its own weight. Many large of eight lights in Canterbury Cathedral, c.

windows have withstood the test of time and remained 1400, which contains medieval glass.

substantially intact since the late Middle Ages. In

Western Europe they constitute the major form of pictorial art to have survived. In this
context, the purpose of a stained glass window is not to allow those within a building to see
the world outside or even primarily to admit light but rather to control it. For this reason
stained glass windows have been described as 'illuminated wall decorations'.

The design of a window may be non-figurative or figurative; may incorporate narratives

drawn from the Bible, history, or literature; may represent saints or patrons, or use
symbolic motifs, in particular armorial. Windows within a building may be thematic, for
example: within a church - episodes from the life of Christ; within a parliament building -
shields of the constituencies; within a college hall - figures representing the arts and
sciences; or within a home - flora, fauna, or landscape.
 Colorants

We may devide the materials used to give colours to glass. The first of t hese include
there is those materials oxides which seen to be in true solution in the glass if not actually
in combination as silicates. The second group includes those few elementary substances
who’s coloring effect seem to be due to their presence as particles of colodal size.

As an approach to the discussion of these colorants in particular, we shell select the

method of treating each element and its different stages of oxidation separately, and
later tabulate for convenience and comparison the effects produced by the various
coloring agents. It will be convenient to begin with the colorants of the first group and to
consider these in the order of their atomic weights and elements, that is, their atomic
number. Curiously, we find the series of the metallic elements of atomic number 23 to 29
inclusive, which apply the most interesting to the glass colorants.

Vanadium:

Vanadium forms two principle oxides, V2O5 and V2O3 the first of these is a basic oxide and
gives glass a yellowish green color. It is seldum used as a colorant because of its high cost,
and because green can be obtain more cheaply in other ways. The oxide V2 O5 has an acid
character, and forms vanadates which are yellow. It seems to be impossible to retain
vanadates or V2 O5 in silica glass. But the final result is as always decomposition or
reduction to the V2O3 condition which the corresponding green color.

This instability of the higher, acidic oxides of the elements in the silicate glasses
deserves the attention it seen to state safe as a general principal that the higher oxides
are stable in comparatively basic melts, while the lower basic oxides aer stable when silica
is definitely in excess. For example, in fused borax where we have to deal only with the
weekly acid B2O5 a vanadate or V2O5 may be dissolved and made to field a characteristics
yellow decoration. But the adition to the melt of every small quantity of silica cause the
disappearance of the yellow color and the characteristics green of V2O3

Chromium:

Chromium is one of the most powerful of all coloring agents used in the
glassmaking industry and is used in the production of dark green glass taking over
from the use of iron oxide which had been used to produce this color. The material
can be introduced into glass either in the form of chromic oxide or potassium
dichromate (K2Cr2O7) , the latter being a more convenient form. This material is
a very powerful colouring agent that excessive use produces a black glass.
According to glassmakers we now know that chromium is not easily soluble in glass
and chromic oxide may form chromates, which remain in the glass as un-dissolved
black specks. It was report that in the St. Helens area of Lancashire, England some
railway wagons delivering limestone to the glassworks had previously carried
chromium ore and minute quantities of the ore, which had not been swept out, had
found their way into the glassworks and ruined many days of production. A costly
error, which not only affected production but could have also lead to a lack of
confidence in the finished product from the glassworks. Potassium
chromate (K2CrO4) is yellow and this colour can be imparted to certain glasses. To
produce emerald green glass in which a yellowish cast has to be avoided the
addition of tin oxide and arsenic is necessary. The manufacture of chromium
aventurine, which nowadays is hardly ever produced, is of historical interest. The
aventurine effect is caused by the formation of fairly large plates of chromic oxide,
which crystallise out from the melt. During the stage of blowing these crystals
orient themselves nearly parallel to the glass surface and it is their reflections,
which give a glittering effect to the finished article. Whilst chromium is associated
mainly with the production of green glass, other colours from yellow through bluish-
red, red to dark green or even black can be achieved in combination with other
oxides.

Chromium two oxides of interest to the glass maker interest to the glass maker, CrO3
basic or chromium anhydride and chromium trioxides CrO3 has an arrange red color with
water it forms chromium acid. It reacts with the alkalies to form chromate and
dichromate, example of which are yellow sedium chromate, Na2CrO4 and arrange sodium
dichromate, Na2O7. H2O. in rater basic glazes and enables, it is possible to retain chromate
dissolved in such a manner as to yield yellow or orange color. But in the common silica
glasses by iron may be any tint between yellow green and greenish blue the reaction.

Cobalt

Cobalt is the most powerful blue colorant used in glassmaking producing rich blues when
used in potash containing mixes, but it can also give shades of pink when used in a boro-
silicate mix and green when used with iodides. There is no significant evidence as to when
cobalt was first used as a colouring agent, but evidence can be seen in stained glass
windows going back as far as the twelfth century. Cobalt is not only used in the
glassmaking fraternity but was used extensively in the production of blue glazes in the
pottery industry. Chinese porcelain, from the Tang Dynasty 616 to 906 and the Ming
Dynasty 1368 to 1644, vases were decorated with cobalt blue. The addition of cobalt to
the glass mix will produce a blue colour and its intensity depends upon the base glass. The
deepest of blues are produced when used in glass containing potash. Very small quantities
are used for physical decolourising, and the amount is so small that it must be added into
the batch mix with sand, as the small amount of cobalt, if introduced on its own would have
no chance of being uniformly distributed throughout the batch. In this way the sand acts
as a pre-mixed dilutant. It is true to say most decolourising agents are used in very small
quantities that it is normal to premix with sand to enable a better dispersion throughout
the batch.

Cobalt appears in two stages of oxidation, CO.Co2C3 and their compounds, Co3O4 which is
the black cobalt oxide of commerce. It yields in all commercial glasses a violet blue color
which is so distnative that it has the name “Cobalt Blue”. Cobalt has an amazingly high
coloring power. As little as one part is 500,000 produces a recognizable tint and one part
is 5000 produces a blue sufficiently intense for most ware. When used in the combination
with other colorants such as chromium or cobat, may be made by yield a blue of any
desired tint from the pure cobalt itself. Throw this region of the spectrum therefore, the
glass maker is in possession of means for the production of the literacy of green and blue.
Cobalt is used with manganese and other colorants in the production of black, where its
intence coloring power makes it very valuable in spit of its high cost. It is also used as a
final corrective in decolorizing.

Copper:

Copper is a very powerful and also a versatile colouring agent when used in colouring
glass and its use can be traced back many years. The now famous Egyptian Blue Glass,
which was so popular during the time of the Roman Empire, was made using a copper
compound. Copper greens and blues are not difficult to produce, although the behaviour of
copper in a silicate melt can be complicated. Copper was used most profusely to produce
green glass. The art of using copper for ruby glass goes far back to ancient times but even
so using copper oxide (CuO) to make ruby glass can be very difficult. Today we find copper
being used to produce turquoise blue tones.

Copper forms cuprous oxide, Cu2O, which is red and cuprei oxide CuO, which is
black. It produces normaly a greenish blue color intermediate between those chromium and
cobalt. Hence it is a valuable coloring agent with those two colouring agents historicaly it is
probably one of the oldest of the coloring oxides to be used and it appears in many of
ancient Egyptian of glass as well as in the glasses of ancient times. Copper allow this blue
colour under neutral or oxidizing agents under strong reduction, this color disappears. It is
quite probable that oxides is reduced not to the coopers from but to metallic copper,
which remains dissolved without at first producing any color effect. Then upon reheating
the colour “strikes” producing the copper ruby. This is regarded by most authorities as a
color produced by colidal particles of metallic copper brought by reheating process into a
suitable degree of dispersion to transmit particularly nothing but red light. It is entirely
possible that these particles may consist of cooperies oxide whose chemical activity is so
low that it easily driven out of compination with the silica by reheating process and made
to appear in separate form

Curium:

Curium forms two principle oxides CeO2and Ce2O3. The commercial product is the
hydrate of the higher oxide containing usually 75 percent of the rare-earth group
obtained by monazite sand as by products in the refining of the oria of mantles used in the
glass lamp.

Luria used alone has little or no colouring effect. It was shown by W.E. Taylor that
when used with combination with titanium, TiO2. Curiea will produce a very attractive
yellow color. The chemistry of this colour formation is somewhat obscure. Perhaps the
colourizers from the formation of titanium. The coloring power of the curie titinia
combination is rather weak. As much as of three percent of these oxides is required to
produce a satisfactory yellow for the tableware. The intensity of the colour is increased
by intreasing the titania by keeping the curia constant. This suggest that there may b a
partition of ceria between silia and titania which is carried to the titania side with great
constraction of the latter. This combination of the colorants is an unused in that such a
large proportion of these oxides must be present that there is a read effect as the
working effect of the glass conferred by these two refractory.

Neodymium:

Several other rare earth are separable from monazite after the remover of thoria
and some of these expert destined coloring action. The only once that seems to have been
used commercial aside from ceria is neodymium oxalate containing approximately 50
percent of oxide. Because of its scarecity and the difficulty of separating it completely
from praysodium it is at present the most expensive of the coloring oxides. It produces in
the glass, when represent in concentration of several percent a beautiful violet color. The
neodymium glass is distingtly, blue-violet, unfortunately the high cost of the reagent make
this beautiful glass unfortunable of any exept the most expensive line of glassware.
Uranium:
The thought of 19th century glassmakers using Uranium certainly emphasises the
risks they undertook to achieve a piece of glass in a colour very desirable, unaware of the
properties now associated with the handling of such a mineral. Glasshouses all over the
world in the 19th century would surely have set high readings on 'Geiger' counters.
Uranium produces a yellow coloured glass (This type of Uranium Glass is termed 'Vaseline
Glass' by collectors in the USA), however when used in a very high lead containing glass
will produce a deep red colour.

Manganese:

Some of the oldest compounds used in the colouring glass are manganese compounds.
Evidence is found in early Egyptian purple glass that manganese is present. Manganese in
its low state of oxidation is colourless, but it is a powerful oxidising agent and can be used
for decolourising purposes to oxidise the iron content. Glassmakers have over the years
substituted manganese by sodium nitrate or selenium in decolourising. Manganese is mainly
used in the production of purple glass resembling the colour of potassium permanganate
(KMnO4) crystals. The purple colour is achieved by the trivalent manganese however in its
divalent state it only imparts a weak yellow or brown colour which are responsible for the
green and orange fluorescence of manganese glass.

The element manganese is of particular interest to the glass melt, because it was
undoubtedly one one of the first to be used for its coloring effect, and because it was
used for hundreds of years as a only satisfactory decolorizer manganese forms a number
of oxides of these, we are interested in the dioxide MnO2 (glass makers, “Manganese” or
pyrosulite), the sesqiouside, Mn2O3and manganese oxides MnO, we might also mention the
heptoxide Mn2O7, not available such as, but as the commercial compound potassium
permanganate, KMnO4. The principal regent for the introduction of the manganese is the
dioxide. Potassium permananet is sometime used, but the net result per unit of manganese
introduced seems to be substantially the same.

Iron :

Iron is a very useful and powerful colouring agent even though it can be an
undesirable impurity in making glass. Iron when used in its highest state of oxidation could
in combination with barium oxide (BaO) give a reddish-blue glass, but these would have
melted under high oxygen pressures and cannot be produced in practice. Iron in its
metallic forms cannot remain in equilibrium with glass and can be disregarded, however its
ferrous and ferric forms are of a great help in producing coloured glass. In a reduced
condition it can be combined with chromium to produce a deep green glass used in the
production of wine bottles. Used with the combination of sulphur (S) , iron sulphides are
formed giving a dark amber colour. Used on there own iron and sulphur would not give the
amber colour required and a reducing agent such as carbon (C) powder is added to the
batch. The shade of amber can only be controlled within narrow limits by varying the
amount of coal, which is added in relation to the already existing iron impurity and the
carbon matter in the raw materials.

Typical Base Glass For use In Colored Glasses

Type Discription Sand Soda Ash Potash Lime Spar Red Lead Nitr
1 Potash Lime 1000 -- 275 200 -- 50
Silica
2 Soda Lime 1000 325 -- 200 -- 50
Silica
3 Potash Lead 1000 -- 275 -- 650 50
Silica

Decolonization:

In almost all the raw materials used as batch constituents and in the refractory
materials a portion of which is dissolved by the glass, iron oxide is present to a greater or
less extend as an impurity. These iron compounds import a characteristic greenish-yellow
colour to glass and to counteract this, decolorizing agents are added to the batch.

One method is to oxides the iron to the ferric state, for the yellow color of iron in
the ferric state is not a intense and noticeable as the blue color of the some amount of
the iron in the ferrous state. Potassium and sodium nitrates are the usual oxidizing agents
added for the purpose.
 The Batch Composition For The Coloured Glasses

Color Coloring Agents Amount Added to Glass Type

Purple NiO 7.5 1
Violet MnO2 400 1&3
Black {MnO2 CoO} {200, 50} 2
Blue CoO 15 1&2&3
Blue- Green CuO 50 2
Aqua marine CuO 50 1&3
Green {K2 Cr2 O7, Fe2 O3 , {5,1,1.5} 1
CuO}
Green BaCrO4 30 1&3
Green { Na2 U2 O7 .3H2 O, CuO}  {35, 1} 3
Opal Ca3 (PO4)2 250 1&3
Opal {No3AlF8,  Al2 O3 } 
Ruby AuCl3 0.4 3
Ruby Se 175 1
Amber { C, S} {6, 5} 2
Amber {Fe2O3 , MnO2} {20, 60}

A second method is to add the complementary purple color to the yellow green iron color
to that white light is absorbed uniformly from the visible region. This method gives the
best result when bath colors are faint, because the effect has been obtained by
subtraction of light with consequent less in brightness. The limit for successful
decolorizing is 0.1 per cent Fe2O3. The Complementary Color is obtained by manganese
dioxide. Annealing reduces the manganese color so that the ware must enter the Lahr
slightly on the pink side. The pind color can be re-developed in sunlight, on effect known as
solorization. Hower, in tank melted glass containing salt cake and carbon, the manganese
color is destroyed. For these reasons, the use of manganese dioxide as a decolorizing
agent is limited to red glass melted in pats where oxidizing conditions prevail.

Selenium and cobalt oxide together produces a more stable complementary color,
reducing condition during melting are necessary to develop the selenium pink, consequently
its use in mainly in tank furnace. Lead, melted under oxides condition cannot decolorized
with selenium only one part of the selenium per 32,000-64,000 parts of sand and about
1/6 of this amount of cobalt oxide are needed to decolorize most glasses.
 Opal Glass
These glasses having a light-diffusing crystallite phase and commonly refer ed to as
pacified or opal glasses. It is particularly directed to fluoride opal glasses in which the
light diffusing crystallite phase is composed primarily of alkali fluorides and “strikes in,”
that is develops or separates in the glass, very rapidly, and to the production of
incandescent lamp bulbs and similar light transmitting glassware from such glasses

The rate at which opal glasses strike may vary markedly, some glasses developing an
opacifying crystallite pase so slowly as to be thermally opacifiable, tha is clear a
transparent when initially molded and cooled and requiring a subsequent heat treatment
for opal development. However, for commercial production a spontaneously opacifiable
glass is desired, that is one which strikes in fully during the cooling cycle incidental to a
given molding process. In hand molding and automatic pressing operations at least ten
second time, and as much as a minute or more is usually available for striking in the opal
phase. Further, such oprations are sufficiently flexile that the process can readily be
adapted to a particular glass with no serious consequence other than a slow production
rate.

The glasses of the present invention comprise essentially

SiO2 55-75%
Al2O3 2-12%
Li2O 0.5-3.0%
Na2O 6%
Alkali metat oxide content 12-20%
F 5-9%
Glasses containing one or more of the above consituents in amount appreciably outside the
recited ranges are unsuitable for various reasons. Thus an excess of SiO2 or Al2O3, or a
deficiency in total alkali metal oxide, produces a glass that is so hard or viscuous as to be
too difficult to melt and work. On the other hand, a de-ficiency in SiO2 or Al2O3, or an
excess of alkali metal oxide, produces too soft a glass and also one that has poor chemical
durability as evidenced by clouding, filming, or other deterioration of the glass surface.
This is particularly serious in connecton with lamp envelopes since it interferes with proper
sealing of parts, as well as with lamp efficiency.

The presence of F is, of course, essential for development of an opal phase. Also the rate
of striking increases markedly with F content. At least 5% is required for theses
purposes, but over about 9% imparts too high a liquidus to the glasses and tends to cause
devitrification.

Up to 6% PbO and up to 5% B2O3may be advantageously used to adjust physical

properties such as viscosity and expansion coefficient. An excess of PbO tends to unduly
soften the glasses while the use of B2O3 is limited by its tendency to volatilize during
melting and remove F from the glass.

In further explanation of my invention the following table sets forth, in units by weight,
batches from which illustrative glasses may be melted:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sio3 668 231 232 214 254 280 270 201
Na2Co3 73.5 39 32 52 39 89 33 20
NaNO3 28 14 7 7 7 14 14 14
K2CO 3 105 27.5 49 14 42 -------- 42 25
Li2CO3 24.5 -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Lepidolite -------- 114 114 114 114 114 114 57
Al(OH)3 126 -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Feldspar -------- 68 82 82 27 -------- -------- 167
Na2SiF5 112 44 37 28 37 37 36 43
CaF2 14.5 -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
CaCO3 -------- 9 -------- -------- -------- -------- 9 9
BaCo3 32 16 -------- 38 -------- -------- 18 16
ZnO -------- -------- -------- -------- 18 15 7.5 --------
PbsiO4 -------- -------- -------- -------- 18 18 23 --------
As2O3 4 2 -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Table II sets forth glass compositions corresponding to, and calculatd in weight
percent from, the respective hatches recited in Table II

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SiO2 65.6 66.1 67.2 64.8 64.4 65.9 64.1 65.0
Na2O 8.4 8.5 7.0 8.3 7.1 12.6 7.1 8.0
K2O 6.8 6.8 10.0 5.7 9.1 2.9 7.5 8.0
LI2O3 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.5
Al2O3 7.7 7.8 8.9 9.3 7.2 6.1 6.2 8.4
BaO 2.3 2.3 -------- 5.9 -------- -------- 2.3 2.3
ZnO -------- -------- -------- -------- 2.8 2.9 1.5 --------
Cao 1.0 1.0 -------- -------- -------- -------- 1.0 1.0
PbO -------- -------- -------- -------- 2.8 2.9 3.7 --------
F 6.9 6.2 5.6 5.0 5.6 5.7 5.6 5.6
 Phosphate Opal Glass
Opal glass and method of preparing it, using as batch ingredients the approximate
percentages by weight:

SiO2 66.2
B2O3 10
Al2O3 4.5
P2O5 5
CaO 4.5
MgO 0.8
Na2O 12
M2O/P2O5 2-3
M2O/Cao 6-11

P2O5XSiO2 / M2O = 20 to 30

Where M2O is an alkali oxide principally Na2O but capable of containing K2O or Li2O. The
Batch is melted at about 1500 Degree C. gobs cut off and molded at 1230 Degree to 1280
degree and molded articles tempered at 700 degree to 720 degree C. the separation of
the opalescent phase begins only when the glass is being shaped to final form and has been
sufficiently cooled so that the viscosity of the matrix is so high as to prevent the growth
of crystalline structure the result is an opal glass having the appearance of perfect
verification and greatly increased strength over prior art opal glass

Opal Glass Compositions

According to a preferred mode of combodiment of the invention, the compositing
according to the invention comprises the components below within the following weight
limits.

SiO2 60-66%
Na2O 9-13%
K2O 1.5-2.5%
CaO 0.4-1.5%
Al2O3 5-6%
BaO 2-3%
Ce2O 0-0.1%
B2O3 10-12%
ZnO 0.5-1.5%
 F 0-1%
P2O3 1.5-3%
A Composition for opalescent glass according to the invention, more particularly intended
for an automatic production, may comprise the oxides below within the following weights
limits:

SiO2 65.10%
Na2O 9.00%
K2O 2.02%
CaO 1.05%
Al2O3 5.70%
BaO 2.65%
Ce2O 0.04%
B2O3 11.26%
ZnO 0.93%
F 0.45%
P2O5 1.80%
A composition for opalescent glass according to the invention, intended more particularly
for a “semiautomatic” production, comprising manual stages, may include the oxide bellow
within the following weight limits:

SiO2 60.80%
Na2O 12.4%
K2O 2%
Cao 1.1%
Al2O3 5.6%
BaO 2.7%
Ce2O 0.04%
B2O3 11.2%
ZnO 0.9%
F 0.5%
P2O3 2.6%
Tests have been carried out based on different compositions for opalescent glass
according to the invention and are reported in the table here in below.

The table shows the glass composition for each of the articles produced as well as
the L colorimeter through a wall of the articles, the latter having been cut before han to
allow measurement.

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4

SiO2 60.99 60,41 60,44 60,13
 K2O 2,03 2,01 2,01 2,00
CaO 1,05 1,04 1,04 1,03
Al2O3 5,66 5,61 5,61 5,58
Fe2O3 0,03 0,03 0,03 0,03
BaO 2,65 2,63 2,63 2,31
Ce2O 0,04 0,04 0,04 0,04
B2O3 11,22 11,12 11,12 11,06
ZnO 0,93 0,92 0,92 0,91
F 0,45 0,44 0,44 0,44
P2O3 2,02 2,42 2,74 2,99
L Colorimetry 87,2 66,9 30,6 24,2

To begin with, these tests show that an increase in the P2O3 content leads to a decrease in
light transmission. The light transmissions obtained from theses glass compositions
according to the invention are completely satisfactory for the contemplated application.

In addition, the hydrolytic resistance for each of these glass types also is
satisfactory, in particular for applications such as those of the perfume and cosmetics
industries.

I claim.

1. Glass composition which comprises the components below within the following
weight llimits

SiO2 60-66%
Na2O 9-13%
K2O 1.5-2.5%
Cao 0.5-1.5%
Al2O3 5-6%
BaO 2-3%
Ce2O 0-0.1%
B2O3 10-12%
ZnO 0.5-1.5%
F 0-1%
P2O3 1.5-3%
2. Glass compositions according to claim 1. Which comprises the components below:

SiO2 65.10%
Na2O 9.00%
K2O 2.02
 CaO 1.05%
Al2O3 5.70%
BaO 2.65%
Ce2O 0.04%
B2O3 11.26%
ZnO 0.93%
F 0.45%
P2O5 1.80%
3. An Opalescent borosilicate glass composition comprising at least SiO2, CaO, P2O5
and at least one alkali oxide, where in the SiO2 content ranges between 50 and 61%,
the alkali oxide content ranges beteen 13 and 15% percent and the caO content
ranges between 0.5 and 3% and the P2O5 content ranges between 2.5 and 3%.

Bronze-Smoke Segment Glass

The present glass is relates to new segment glasses used in the fabrication of fused
uniform color bifocal and trifocal ophthalmic lenses. More particularly, the present
invention relates to lead-barium bronze-smoke colored segment glasses having indices of
refraction of 1.6530 to 1.6610 and total luminous transmittances of about 25 percent of a
2 millimeter glass thickness.

The Lead-barium bronze-smoke colored segment glasses of the present invention have
indices of refraction, softening points, and thermal expansion characteristics which make
them suitable for fusing to the bronze-smoke colored segment and crown glasses.

The segment glasses of the present invention permit fabrication of bifocal or trifocal
ophthalmic lenses which exhibit essentially uniform color density and transmittance
properties when fused to the bronze-smoke colored segment and crown glasses disclosed
in our cop ending applications.

The glasses of the present invention are described by the calculated compositional
ranges presented below.

Component Percent by weight

SiO2 37 to 41
BaO 17 to 21
Na2O 6 to 10
B2O3 1 to 4
K2O 0 to 2
CaO 2 to 5
 TiO2 1 to 5
ZrO2 4 to 8
PbO 15.5 to 18
Sb2O3 0 to 2
Al2O3 0.1 to 3.0
Cao 0.001 to 0.077
NiO 0.1 to 0.4

The butch ingredients for two typical segment glasses of the present invention are
given in table I below. All ingredients are given in parts by weight

Table I

Part by Weight
Batch Ingredient “A” “B”
Sand 937 963
Barium Carbonate 650 702
Soda Ash 350 362
Boric Acid 124 143
Sodium Nitrate 30 30
Titanium Dioxide 73 102
Zircunium Silicate 262 260
Lead Oxide 435 463
Antimoney Oxide 10 10
Nickel Oxide 7.2 7.55
Cobalt Oxide 0.105 0.112

The calculated glass compositions “A” and “B” are presented in table II. All oxide
percentages are in percent by weight.

Table II

Percent by weight
Component “A” “B”
SiO2 30.2 28.1
BaO 19.3 19.5
Na2O 8.3 8.1
B2O3 2.7 3.0
CaO 3.9 3.5
TiO2 2.8 3.7
 ZrO3 6.5 6.4
PbO 16.7 17.0
Sb2O3 0.4 0.4
Al2O3 0.1 0.1
CaO 0.0041 0.0041
NiO 0.2756 0.2756

Table III lists some of the significant optical and physical properties of glasses “A” and
“B”

Table III

Property Compositions Compositions

“A” “B”
Inder of refraction, Nd 1.6534 1.6603
Softening Point In Degree F 1268 1267
Coefficient of thermal expansion X10-0per 5.1 5.1
o
F. between 70oF and 576 oF
Percent luminous transmittance for 2mn. 26.0 25.0
Glass thickness.

The glasses of the present invention may have indices of refraction between 1.6530
and 1.6610, softening points from 1260 to 1310 oF, and 3.5X10-o per oF. in the temperature
ranges from 70 oF to 575 oF.

The softening points is defined by the American society for testing materials as
the temperature at which the viscosity of the glass in 107.8 poises.

The segment glasses herein disclosed should be melted under neutral or slightly
oxidizing conditions using conventional melting techniques.
 Amber Glass
This type of glass relates to amber glass and has particular relation to amber glass of the
reduced or carbon-sulfer type.

Centenary to such accepted teachings of the prior art, I have discovered that
reduced amber glass of exceptional stability may be produced through an unusually wide
range of coloration within the limits of composition set forth below furthermore, I have
discovered a most remarkable and novel relation between the alkali content and the silica
content with respect to the effect of these constituents upon the stability of color and
the coloration of reduced or carbon sulfer amber glass. ( the term “alkali” as used herin
means either or any of the following Na2O, K2O, and li2O)

The limits of compositions of my novel glass are approximately as follows.

Percent
Silica 70-80
Alkali 10-17.5
CaO 1.3-13
MgO 0-6.5
Al2O3 0.5-5
Iron expressed as Fe2O2 0.02-0.10

Balance selected from the following minor consttuents: BaO, B2O3, S, F2, TiO2, and SrO

The newly discovered relation between alkali and silica referred to above is that
these constituents are required to be present within the above approximate limits in such
proportions that the percentages of silica by weight minus twice the percentages of alkali
by weight equals K, a constant ranging to number from 45-60 inclusive. Stated otherwise,
and letting S represent silica and N alkali, then

S—2N=K

K being a constant dependent upon the amounts of coloring agents used and having a value
ranging from 45 to 60 inclusive.
 Blue Glass
Glass compositions having various colors are used for example, by architects in glazing
building normally, the color selected the architect serves several functions. A first
function of the color is to make the glass aesthetically pleasing when viewed from the
exterior of the building. Aesthetics will determine the acceptability of a desired
particular glass color and, in part, the desired intensity of the color, a second function is
to reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the exterior of the building to the interior
of the building, so that the air conditioning load in the building is reduced . Generally, more
color added to glass results in greater heat absorption. In addition, while color may readily
be added to glass to serve these functions, that glass when colored still must have an
appropriate visible light transmittance value.

The glass of the present invention generally comprises a base soda-lime-silica glass
composition having specific colorants in specific quantities therein.

The basic soda-lime-silica glass comprises 68% to 75% by weight SiO2, up to 5% by

weight Al2O3, 5% to 15% by weight CaO, up to 10% by weight MgO, with the proviso that
CaO+MgO is 6% to 15% by weight of the glass, 10% to 18% by weight Na2O, and up to 5%
by weight K2O, with the proviso that Na2O+K2O is 10% to 20% by weight of the glass.
Silica forms the glass matrix. Alumina regulates the viscosity of the glass, and prevents
devitrification. Calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, sodium oxide, and potassium oxide act as
fluxes to reduce the melting temperature of the glass furthermore, the alumina calcium
oxide, and magnesium oxide act together to improve the durability of the glass.

Composition Of The Dark Blue Glass

SiO2 63-70%
Na2O 18-18%
CaO 5—10%
K2O 2-5%
B2O3 2-6%
Al2O3 2-3.5%
Cobalt Oxide 0.5-2.5%
 Dark Gray Colored Glass
The present glass type relates to a dark gray colored glass having low visible light
transmittance, low ultraviolet ray transmittance, low solar radiation transmittance and low
excitation purity, which is suitable for a sun roof or rear window glass of an automobile.

A typical neutral gray colored heat absorbing glass containing Fe2O3, Se, CaO, NiO,
Cr2O3 etc, is known.

However, nickel is not desirable, since it sometimes forms nickel sulfide in glass. Nickel
sulfide.

More preferably, the glass of the present invention comprises coloring components of the
following composition, per 100 parts by weight of the matrix component:

Total iron
Calculated as Fe2O3 1.0 to 1.4 parts by weight
FeO 0.1 to 0.3 part by weight
TiO2 0 to 1.0 part by weight
Se 0.0005 to 0.015 part by weight
CoO 0.02 to 0.05 part by weight and
Cr2O3 0.002 to 0.05 part by weight

Particularly preferably, the glass of the present invention comprises coloring components
of the following composition, per 100 parts by weight of the matrix component:

Total iron
calculated as Fe2O3 1.0 to 1.35 part by weight
FeO 0.1 to 0.3 part by weight
TiO2 0 to 1.0 par by weight
Se 0.0005 to 0.015 part by weight
CoO 0.021 to 0.05 part by weight
Cr2O3 0.002 to 0.05 part by weight

The glass of the present invention can be produced, for example, as follows, although the
process for its production is not particularly limited.
 Optical Quality Colored glass
This type of glass relates to a phosphate glass rich in alkali and alkaline earth content with
a relatively high elongation and a low devitrification tendency, to serve as a base glass for
the production of highly selective CuO color-filter glasses. Due to its low viscosity and
associated elasticity properties, such a glass system satisfies the demands for a glass
system of good optical quality capable of being continuously deformed and passed over a
movable band cooling system.

As can be seen from the present type of glass, that the glass is industrially useful
in providing a base glass suitable for the large scale production of highly selective copper
oxide filter glasses.

A phosphate glass rich in alkali and alkaline earth metal oxides and containing CuO
as a coloring component for optical filter glass in the spectral range from 350 nm to 850
nm, consisting essentially of the following synthesis-composition

P2O5 65.00-70.00
SiO2 0.00 to 0.75
B2O3 0.00 to 2.00
Al2O3 2.50 to 6.00
R2O 11.00 to 17.00
BaO 3.00 to 9.50
CeO2 0.45 to 2.00
Cl 0.15 to 0.75
CuO 2.55 to 6.55
F 0.25 to 1.50
Refining Agents 0.10 to 2.00
 Neutral Colored Glass Compositions
This invention relates to a neutral colored glass that has a high visible light transmittance,
a reduced total solar heat transmittance, and a reduced ultraviolet radiation
transmittance. More particularly, this invention relates to a glass composition that utilizes
colorants of iron oxide and one or more of the compounds selected from the group of
titanium dioxide, vanadium pentoxide, or ceric oxide to produce glass suitable for use in
architectural glazing.

A single colorant, selected from the group of titanium dioxide, vanadium pentoxide,
and ceric oxide, is added to the glass composition at about 0.1% by weight. Optionally, a
combination of compounds selected from the group of colorants may also be added to the
glass composition from about 0.1% to about 2.0% by weight. Amounts of the colorants in
the above ranges can produce beneficial effects on color purity and UV absorption,
respectively, without deteriously

Ultraviolet 300-400 nanometers

Visible 400-770 nanometers
Total Solar 300-2130 nanometers

The batch materials are conveniently melted together in a conventional glass making
furnace, to form a neutral tinted glass composition, which thereafter may be continuously
cast onto the molten metal bath in a float glass process.

The composition of soda-lime-silica flat glasses suitable for use in accordance with
the present invention typically have the following weight percentage constituents:

SiO2 65-80%
Na2O 10-20
CaO 5-15%
MgO 0-10%
Al2O3 0-5
K2O 0-5
B2O 0-5
B2O3 0-5