Parameters affecting the workability of container glass Part 1. Description of the problem - Melting history, rheology and influence of microstructure

Abstract

Poor workability designates sporadic cases in which the forming behaviour of container glass varies unpredictably, impairing quality, productivity and sometimes strength. The literature offers several plausible suggestions to explain such a poor reproducibility of the rheological behaviour, generally associated with physicochemical parameters of the glass which are not routinely analyzed and which are supposed to vary with "melting history" (temperatures, raw materials, melting atmospheres) and to influence viscosity by altering the structure of "flow units", while the analytical composition remains unchanged. Alternative hypotheses are based on various not properly controlled process parameters, such as gob temperature distribution or plunger and mould condition including lubrication. Moreover, recent advances in rheology show that during the most critical stages of the forming process viscosity may change drastically with the deformation rate, providing a further plausible explanation for the observed irregular forming behaviour. One of the most promising physicochemical parameters is the possible presence of microstructure (phase separation, clustering, microcrystals). While in model glasses the correlation between microstructure and rheology is well-established, both at equilibrium and at high shear rates, there is still a lack of conclusive evidence about the presence of microstructure in industrial multicomponent glass.