REIN FO RCED CO N C RETE BUILDIN G

Lesson 5
Dr. Salva tore Polverino
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Glass can be considered a lithoid, as it is obtained by transformation of lithic materials.It is rigid, but beyond
certain temperatures it acquires a plasticity that makes it mouldable.

Glass does not have a crystalline but amorphous structure and, for this reason, it can be considered a highly
viscous and rapidly cooled liquid

The peculiar characteristic of amorphous materials is that they cannot crystallise, even in long times, if brought
rapidly to room temperature.
For this reason, the arrangement of their atoms remains disorderly.
Their behaviour in the solid state is in many ways different from that of crystalline materials.

The liquid-solid transition presents a variation that characterises the amorphous material.
The variation in specific volume in this transition process highlights the different behaviour of a substance in
which the crystalline structure is formed compared to glass.
In the first case a discontinuity occurs at the Tf solidification temperature, witnessing the change from a
disorderly structure to an ordered one
In the second case, in which the cooling is sudden enough to give rise to the formation of a glass, it is observed that
the system passes through Tf ignoring it and continuing to behave like a subcooled liquid. At a lower temperature,
called Tg glass transition temperature, the slope of the curve decreases to reach a value close to that of the
crystalline solid: this is the glass transition.

To make a basic glass, three main elements must be

melted together:
• vitrifying agent’: Silica SiO2 : silica sands from river or quarry without iron oxides (< 0.5%) coefficient of
expansion almost zero
• Boric anhydride B2O3: promotes meltability , gives brilliance and chemical resistance
• Phosphoric anhydride P2O5: used as an opacifier
• Flux or fondant: Sodium oxide Na2O: increases the thermal range of workability
• Potassium oxide K2O: used for precious glass, it increases melting power, transparency, brilliance.

• Stabilis: Alkaline-earth oxides (CaO, MgO, BaO):

• PbO lead oxide;
• Al2O3 aluminium oxide
• - ZnO zinc oxide
Other components:
• Additives Specific oxides that give particular colours.
• Decolorants to eliminate green or yellow coloration deriving from iron oxides
• Opacifiers.

The following main types of glass are distinguished according to their composition and uses. Due to their
different composition, they have different properties and applications:

Silica Glass
It is obtained by melting very pure quartz at temperatures above 2000 °C.
It is a very expensive glass due to the technological difficulties of production and processing, but has
exceptional properties compared to other types of glass:
• it can be used at high temperatures (up to 1000 °C);
• very low coefficient of thermal expansion -> high resistance to temperature changes;
• Transparent to UV and IR radiation more than other types of glass.
The following main types of glass are distinguished according to their composition and uses. Due to their
different composition, they have different properties and applications:
Uses: for optical instruments, for chemical applications, for special elements that have to work at high
temperatures, etc.
96% SILICA GLASS (VYCOR glass): it is an alternative glass to silica glass.
It is obtained by melting a borosilicate composition, in particular by immersing the two phases (one rich in silica)
in a hot acid, the soluble borate phase is completely dissolved, leaving a residual porosity that can be eliminated
with a treatment at 1200°C.
Uses: similar to the previous ones, maximum working temperature 900 °C.
SODIUM-CALCIUM GLASS: it is by far the most produced glass because of its low cost, easy manufacture
and workability, good resistance to devitrification and stability to water. Chemical resistance and durability can
be improved by introducing small quantities of alumina.
Uses: with small variations on the basic composition you have glass for construction, car glazing, container
glass, bulb glass, etc.
GLASS CONTAINING LEAD: they are well heat-processable (their working range is shifted towards lower
temperatures compared to other types of glass), have good dielectric properties and a refractive index, which
gives them a particular brilliance (use in tableware).
 BOROSILICATED GLASSES:
the almost total elimination of alkali and the introduction of boric anhydride led to a glass with:
• excellent resistance to thermal shock (low thermal expansion coefficient),
• high chemical resistance and
• high electrical resistivity.
Due to their chemical inertia these glasses are also called "neutral" glass, as they do not give appreciable
reaction products with many substances.
Uses: laboratory glassware, thermometers, chemical-pharmaceutical industry equipment, electrical
insulation, etc.
ALUMINIUM-BORO-SILICATED GLASSES: more alumina, less boric anhydride, very high chemical
resistance;
Uses: containers for pharmaceuticals, freeze- dried products, perfumes, etc.
Since the 17th century begins a period of renewed interest towards innovative technologies. The events show
that the industrialised production of slabs for the building industry has beginning in France and England
just between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century.
The procedure developed consists in pouring the molten glass mass onto a metal sheet, levelling it with a
roller sliding on rails, so as to give the sheet the desired thickness, and then polishing it.
This is the technique known as poured glass, which will characterise the production of large quantities of
glass sheets.
At the beginning of the 20th century the process evolved with the construction of mechanical cylinders of 1 m in
diameter and 12 m in length, allowing the production of slabs up to the basic size of 3 by 12 m.
The craft system with the production of small quantities of glass remained in use until the 1940's when the
Forcault patent for pulled glass made it possible to produce sheets for mechanical production of the melted
mass.
Other manufacturing processes of pulled glass are proposed in the first half of the twentieth century, the main
are the Libbey-Owens and Pittsburg processes which significantly improve thickness control and the quality of
the product
A further evolution, which characterises the production process most used today, is due to Pilkgton's
English patent, dated 1959, for the so-called float glass system.
• the mixing of raw materials;
• the heating of the mixture, which includes the refinement, to eliminate possible air bubbles;
• the fusion, which determines the complete mixing of the components;
• the forming of the sheet, during which the glass product takes on surface dimensions and desired
thicknesses;
• the reheating of the formed sheet, to optimise the vitrification processes during the cooling of the mixture;
• the transversal and longitudinal cutting of the finish.
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 Depending on the production process, the following types of glass are distinguished:
• Float glass: is produced using the float glass
process described above.
• Pulled glass: there are still some production plants of pulled glass based on the patents of Fourcault and
Libbey-Owens.
• Poured glass: Poured glass is translucent (= it
transmits light but not images, although it allows a glimpse of the contours of objects and people) and therefore
does not allow a clear vision as in float glass or pulled glass
• Wired glass: meshed glass is cast glass in which a thin electrowelded wire mesh is incorporated during
casting.

• The second processes differ in: Heat treatment processes:Thermal hardening,Hot hardening,Hot bending

• Chemical treatment processes: Chemical hardening.

• Edge processing: Raw wire grinding, Polished wire grinding, Industrial polished wire grinding, Bevel

• Surface treatment processes: Enamelling, Satin finishing, Sandblasting, Coating processes

 The evolution in glass production technology is linked to the optimisation of certain of its properties and
above all to the relationship with the main external natural factors.
• Protection against water, wind, as much as possible protection against, temperature changes,
controlled contribution of natural light, etc…
The many new types of glass (also called processed glass) can be enclosed in 3 categories:
• Coated glass (UNI EN 1096), Laminated or stratified glass (UNI EN ISO 12543),Insulating glazing (UNI EN
1279)
Coated glass (UNI EN 1096) is defined as plate glass on which a deposit of metals, oxides, nitrides, fluorides or
other compounds has been applied in order to modify one or more of its properties.
They are divided into five different classes according to the position of the coating (internal or external) or the
position in the stratigraphy of a pane of glass.
Coating processes are divided into two main categories: pyrolytic deposits, magnetron deposits.

Coated glass is divided according to the selective properties of the deposit:

• Thermally controlled reflective glass (low emissivity , BE):
• Solar control reflective glass
• Selective glass (thermal and solar control).
laminated glass (UNI EN ISO 12543): consists of a sheet of glass and one or more sheets of glass and/or plastic
joined with one or more layers of material acting as an adhesive and separator (interlayer).
Laminated glass is produced by combining glass, plastic sheets and interlayers in various ways:
Insulating glazing (UNI EN 1279) is defined as the assembly consisting of at least two panes of glass, separated by
one or more spacers and hermetically sealed along the perimeter to create a continuous closed cavity.
The main purpose of this type of system is to increase the thermal insulation properties.
The layer that allows this increase is the cavity, which reduces the transmittance of the glazing (Ug).
Other properties are: solar radiation control, light control, sound insulation, safety, fire protection.
Insulating glazing, produced by combining glass, cavities and joints in various ways, is divided into the following
types:
Thermally insulating glazing: this is defined as glazing in which the thermal insulation performance prevails over
the other possible types.
• Double glazing:
- Double glazing with a cavity saturated with noble gas (argon or krypton):
- High-performance double glazing (low-emissivity or/and solar control reflective glass panes
- High-performance triple glazing (with air- saturated cavities saturated with dry air or noble gas
and possible low-emissivity coated panes)
Glazing with chromogenic materials: A chromogenic material is able to vary its transparency characteristics
depending on certain external factors:
• The intensity of the light flow, the spectral distribution of the light, the temperature or the electrical flux.
Changes in these factors induce a transformation of the chromogenic material from highly transmitting to
partially reflecting or absorbing solar energy and/or natural light.

Four different categories of chromogenic materials can be distinguished:

• photochromic,
• thermochromic,
• Electrochromic,
• photothermochromic,