Optimizing the Christiansen-Shelyubskii method and its comparison with industrial control methods for homogeneity determination of glasses

Abstract

The Christiansen-Shelyubskii method used in this work was optimized experimentally. Different tests were performed with two grain fractions of standardized crushed sheet glass. Maximum transmissions, half-widths and their Standard deviations were optimized, and it was further shown that sampling, an appropriate cleaning of the granulated glass and the quality of the optical cells used are of great importance, too. A variety of industrial glasses was investigated and the Christiansen-Shelyubskii homogeneity numbers were compared with the homogeneity data provided by the glass manufacturers using industrial homogeneity control methods for Container, tube and flat glasses, respectively. Although the physical principles of the homogeneity methods compared were dissimilar, mostly qualitatively similar trends were found. Only in the case of the Mach-Zehnder interferometry method, which is based on a similar principle as the Christiansen-Shelyubskii method, a quantitative correlation analysis was possible. Reasonable agreement between the homogeneity values from both methods was achieved. It was further shown that the Christiansen-Shelyubskii method can monitor the homogeneity during glass melting with external cullet, both in freshly prepared and in composted states.