Click here to find Glass Manufacturers | Discuss Glass & Other Topics

From heat resistant Pyrex to PVB laminated safety windshields, glass is available in many forms. Some of the materials commonly referred to as glass are actually plastic or plastic-glass mixes, although the term “glass” does not specifically indicate a certain chemical composition. The term can describe any number of hard, amorphous, inorganic and uniform solids produced when fused molten materials are cooled fast enough to prevent crystallization. However, typical substances used in glass making are silicates, borates and phosphates. Pyrex, for example, is the result of the addition of boron to typical glassmaking materials—sand, soda and lime. The material produced by this mix has the transparency of glass, with the added benefits of added heat resistance and less size fluctuation.

Because of its strength and versatility, glass has near limitless applications. It is used extensively in construction, providing facing for most modern buildings and regular architectural features for most other habitable structures. It finds multifarious uses in the home, whether as cookware, dining ware, television screens or light bulbs. It is likely the single most important material in astronomy, which was originally made possible by the use of different glass lenses. In addition to its obvious uses in biological, chemical and medical laboratories (test tubes, beakers, microscopes), glass also provides part of the casing for most instrumentation. Although polycarbonate lenses have largely replaced glass in eyeglasses, glass lenses were, historically, the only means to improve vision. Even art owes a great deal to glass, as stained glass and many decorative glass objects from antiquity have survived and provided inspiration to artists for more than a thousand years.

In modern industry, glass serves many biomedical and optic-related functions. It is also a necessary component in numerous aerospace and avionic devices, as well as a useful substance in semiconductor technology and electronics. Due to its special properties, certain types of glass are used in integrated circuits. Fiberglass, as its name implies, is made from ultra-thin strands of glass, and most are well aware of its exceptional insulating qualities. Glass fiber is, in fact, regularly used in electrical insulation as well. It also provides a reinforcing material for laminated plastics. Glass beads are used in sandblasting, and glass sheets are a prerequisite of most mirrors.