Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of
glass
Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...
, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for
windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and
windscreen
The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. ...
s. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is sometimes bent after production of the plane sheet. Flat glass stands in contrast to ''
container glass'' (used for bottles, jars, cups) and ''
glass fibre'' (used for thermal insulation, in
fibreglass composites, and for
optical communication).
Flat glass has a higher
magnesium oxide and
sodium oxide
Sodium oxide is a chemical compound with the formula Na2 O. It is used in ceramics and glasses. It is a white solid but the compound is rarely encountered. Instead "sodium oxide" is used to describe components of various materials such as glass ...
content than container glass, and a lower silica,
calcium oxide, and
aluminium oxide content.
["High temperature glass melt property database for process modeling"; Eds.: Thomas P. Seward III and Terese Vascott; The American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio, 2005, ] From the lower soluble oxide content comes the better
chemical durability of container glass against water, which is required especially for storage of beverages and food.
Most flat glass is
soda–lime glass, produced by the
float glass process
Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin, although lead and other various low- melting-point alloys were used in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and very flat sur ...
(1950s). Other processes for making flat glass include:
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Broad sheet method (13th century)
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Window crown glass technique (14th century)
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Blown plate method (17th century)
*
Plate polishing (17th century)
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Cylinder blown sheet method
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Machine drawn cylinder sheet method (early 20th century)
* Rolling (
rolled plate glass Rolled plate is a type of industrially produced glass. It was invented and patented by James Hartley circa 1847. Rolled plate is used architecturally
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the s ...
,
figure rolled glass) (19th century)
*
Fourcault process (1900s)
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Float glass (1950s)
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Overflow downdraw method (1960s)
The term
plate glass universities is used in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to describe a group – or generation – of universities (in an acknowledgement of the term
red brick universities, used for an older generation of establishments).
Quality and damage
Scratches can occur on sheet of glass from accidental causes. In glass trade terminology these include "block reek" produced in polishing, "runner-cut" or “over/under grind” caused by edge grinding, or a "sleek" or hairline scratch, as well as "crush" or "rub" on the surface.
[Ron Hanifan Concise Dictionary of Engineering: A Guide to the Language 2014 3319078399 "Scratches occur on sheet glass in all degrees from various accidental causes. Block reek is a chain-line scratch produced in polishing. A runner-cut is a curved scratch caused by grinding. An over/under grind is an imperfection on the edge. A sleek is a hairline scratch. A crush or rub is a surface ..."]
See also
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Architectural glass
References
{{Authority control
Glass types
English inventions