Ceramic – Glass
Raw materials for Glass Manufacturing:
For using in Glass manufacturing application, the limestone should essentially have about 97% of Calcium Carbonate and 0.12% of Iron oxide. The Iron oxide content required limits vary according to the type of glass to be produced. The mentioned iron oxide limit of 0.12% is for manufacturing the standard container glass. For manufacturing speciality glasses the maximum allowable lower limit of iron content is only 0.04%. This is because; iron generally provides colour shades to any material. And here in glass too Iron gives colours to glasses. So for manufacturing high quality glasses like flint or crystal type it is highly important to take care that there is not iron contamination to prevent the discoloration effect.
As mentioned in the previous blog, Limestone is used for providing the Calcium oxide source to the glass and its effect is felt mainly during the annealing stage of the glass production. But to be specific the Calcium Oxide is required in the glass for providing it strength and abrasion resistance. Calcium oxide increases the strength of the glass and its abrasion resistance capacity.
