Soda-lime glass is one of the most prevalent types of commercially produced glass, accounting for 90% of all production. Made up of silica, soda and lime, this basic combination offers various useful properties.

It’s cost-effective, chemically stable, reasonably hard and workable – plus recyclable! That means manufacturers can soften and remelt it multiple times without diminishing its physical characteristics.

It’s chemically stable

Soda-lime glass is a widely used type of glass used in various industries. It makes an ideal bottle and container material due to its affordability, hardness, and longevity.

It is an excellent insulator and resistant to various chemicals and environmental elements. Thanks to the combination of silica, sodium oxide, and calcium oxide, silica oxide forms an incredibly strong dimensionally stable material commonly used in electrical industry applications.

Chemically, soda lime glass is composed of 74% to 74% silica by weight and 15-18% sodium oxide, along with 9 percent lime. The sodium oxide lowers the melting temperature while lime acts as a stabilizer for the silica.

By adding soda to silica, it replaces some of the covalent bonds between tetrahedra with non-directional ionic bonds with lower energy. This reduces viscosity of the glass and makes it easier to work with.

This type of glass is often employed in laboratory settings where thermal shock and other harsh conditions can occur. It’s especially popular for making reagent bottles due to its low coefficient of thermal expansion, making it more resistant to stresses and temperatures that might otherwise damage other types of glass.

Borosilicate glass is a chemically stable and durable type of glass composed primarily of boron trioxide and silicon dioxide. It has excellent thermal shock resistance; you can take it from freezer to oven without fear of cracking or breakage.

Chemical stability of glass is largely due to its tightly connected atoms. They are difficult to break apart or affect the structure of the material, making it ideal for use in chemical and industrial processes.

Glass has been around for centuries and is used in a variety of industries such as packaging and food and beverage manufacturing. Additionally, it finds use in scientific applications where it’s usually tempered to increase strength and chemical resistance.

It’s heat resistant

Soda-lime glass is an incredibly common type of glass used for drinking glasses, jars and windows. Its durability, environmental friendliness and affordability make it perfect for mass production in large volumes.

Silica glass is created by melting silica, soda (Na2O), and small amounts of other oxides in a furnace at high temperatures. These added metal oxides act as network modifiers and weaken the crosslinking of silica molecules, decreasing its viscosity so you can work and form the molten glass at lower temperatures more easily.

However, it can crack at higher temperatures and sudden thermal changes, so it is not advised for use at temperatures over 1200 degC.

Borosilicate glass is an exceptional type of material for withstanding extreme temperatures and sudden thermal shifts. It contains at least 5% boron oxide and silica, giving it excellent thermal shock resistance.

The primary distinction between borosilicate glass and soda-lime glass is that former contains boron trioxide and other boron-derived constituents, making it more resistant to high temperatures or sudden changes in temperature than its counterpart.

Furthermore, its lower Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion (CTE) makes it more resistant to thermal shocks – an important consideration when designing vacuum flasks or other complex shapes.

Soda lime glass is known for its ductility, making it easy to manipulate during the machining process with the correct combination of cutting parameters and tool geometry.

It has a reputation for holding acidic solutions without releasing harmful trace minerals into the liquid it holds, making it ideal for laboratories that utilize both alkaline and acidic solutions.

Furthermore, it serves as an excellent insulator for electrical devices and has high resistance to volatile compounds. This makes it the perfect material to manufacture fluid control components and parts used in oil, gas, and petrochemical processing operations.

Soda-lime glass is an extremely ductile material, making it perfect for labs using DNA arrays and lab on chip manufacturing. It can be machined at various strain rates and temperatures, making it a popular choice for these kinds of tasks.

It’s durable

Soda-lime glass is a common glass type used for windows, bottles and vases. To increase its strength and durability, soda lime glass may be chemically strengthened or tempered.

Soda lime glass is composed of 70% silica (silicon dioxide). It’s blended with a small amount of soda at 15% and lime at 9% to reduce their melting points, giving rise to popular terms like soda lime silica glass or silica-lime glass.

Lime is an effective natural flux that can help re-soften glass after it has been scratched or chipped. Additionally, lime adds calcium oxide to the mix which improves its insolubility and hardness.

Soda lime glass may be cost-effective and convenient to work with, but it’s not as durable as some other types of glass due to its susceptibility to breakage when exposed to sudden temperature changes.

Borosilicate glass, on the other hand, is a more robust type of glass known for its strength and resistance to thermal shock. This makes it an ideal choice for products that must withstand heat or chemical changes like medical devices that must withstand temperature changes.

The primary difference between borosilicate glass and soda-lime glass is their higher percentage of silicon dioxide, making them less vulnerable to breakage. Furthermore, this extra percentage allows borosilicate glass to withstand extreme temperature changes more effectively.

Temperatures of up to 170 degrees Celsius, or 340 degrees Fahrenheit, make this material ideal for bakeware and household glass containers like Pyrex.

One factor contributing to its strength is boron trioxide. This ingredient makes the glass more resistant to acidic chemicals, making it perfect for use in chemistry labs.

Boron trioxide in borosilicate glass makes it more resistant to abrasion, making it ideal for foods containing various chemicals. For instance, if you want to make a smoothie that includes lots of fruit, borosilicate glass is the ideal choice since it can withstand acidic substances without cracking or chipping.

It’s affordable

Soda-lime glass is an affordable and versatile glass type used in windows, containers, dinnerware, bakeware, lighting products and many other manufactured glass items. It accounts for 90% of global glass production – an impressive figure!

Glass is a relatively straightforward material to work with, capable of being shaped into various shapes and sizes without issue. Furthermore, its resistance to thermal shock means it won’t crack or break when subjected to abrupt temperature changes.

For the most cost-effective manufacturing of soda-lime glass, the float process is used. This involves floating it on a bed of molten tin. This method has become popular for windows and other applications due to its ability to produce low-cost sheets with excellent optical clarity.

One way to reduce the cost of glass composition is by decreasing its soda content. This can be accomplished by substituting soda with lime (CaO), which has similar properties as soda ash but requires much less production cost.

However, the reduction of soda also results in a decrease in alkali metal oxides that are necessary to break up the silicon-oxygen network that forms silicate glass. This leads to increased viscosity and a decreased coefficient of thermal expansion.

This can be an advantage in that the glass may not melt as quickly and contain more undissolved silica inclusions. Furthermore, any devitrification that takes place when molten glass is allowed to cool below its liquidus temperature will likely take longer than if a traditional composition had been employed.

Additionally, since soda lime glass melts more rapidly at lower temperatures than standard float composition, there may be an increased percentage of molten glass remaining below liquidus temperature for extended periods. This could cause devitrification and ultimately result in rejection of the produced glass.