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E-glass Fibre Strand: Alkali-Free Lime-Alumina-Borosilicate Glass Drawn to Filament
Fibre from ordinary glass carries alkali on its huge surface; it takes up water from the air and slowly destroys itself, and it conducts electricity. Schoenlaub's Owens-Corning glass (US 2,334,961, 1943) has no alkali at all: lime, magnesia, alumina and silica fluxed with boric oxide. It was made to be drawn into fibres for insulation and textiles. It is melted at up to 1420 °C and drawn into continuous filaments on a fast spool.
The picture: our diagram.
Advanced
2 days
Instructions
1
1
Weigh out the batch
Weigh out the batch
The patent's example glass: lime (CaO) 17.5 %, magnesia (MgO) 4.5 %, alumina 14.0 %, silica 54.0 %, boric oxide 10.0 %. Ours: weigh those five oxides in those proportions and mix them. Keep within the patent's limits; small changes make this glass devitrify.
Materials for this step:
Quicklime17.5 parts
Magnesium Oxide4.5 parts
Alumina Powder (Aluminium Oxide)14 parts
Quartz Sand54 parts
Boric Oxide10 partsTools needed:
Balance Scale
Safety Glasses2
2
Melt at no more than 1420 °C
Melt at no more than 1420 °C
Melt the batch in a glass tank furnace without going above 1420 °C; the patent's day tanks ran on a 24-hour cycle.
Tools needed:
Glass Melting Furnace
Pyrometer
Heat-Resistant GlovesSafety Glasses3
3
Feed the platinum bushing
Feed the platinum bushing
Draw from a platinum-rhodium bushing like Slayter and Thomas's, heated by an adjustable current. The drawing range of this glass is about 2000–2400 °F (1090–1320 °C). A blower below the nozzles sets each filament.
Tools needed:
Platinum-Rhodium Bushing
Step-Down TransformerPyrometer
Air BlowerHeat-Resistant Gloves4
4
Wind on a fast spool
Wind on a fast spool
Gather the filaments into a strand and wind it on a spool running as fast as 6,000–10,000 ft per minute (30–50 m/s). Filaments come out about .0001–.0003 in (2.5–7.6 µm) thick. The strand can then be twisted and plied into yarn.
Tools needed:
Take-Up DrumMaterials
5- 17.5 partsPlaceholder
- 4.5 partsPlaceholder
- 14 partsPlaceholder
- 54 partsPlaceholder
- 10 partsPlaceholder
Tools Required
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