OXY-FUEL - BEYOND MELTING

Glass manufacturing is often discussed in terms of individual process steps: mixing, melting, forming and finishing. Their interrelation is seldom acknowledged, not because they do not exist but, rather die to the difficulty in showing interdependence. Melting has experienced a major improvement in stability with the acceptance of oxy-fuel firing. rn addition, the physical and chemical changes imparted to glass by a four fold increase in water vapour concentration above the glass melted with oxy-fuel are producing mensurable changes in the downstream steps of forming and finishing. lit order to significantly reduce product rejects, an understanding and expectation of forming and finishing improvements is required. This paper clarifies by example what should be expected and makes suggestions for capturing benefits available for forming and finishing improvements.