How Stained Glass is Made?

How Stained Glass is Made

  • The main raw material for making ordinary silicate glass is quartz sand, which is a hard, wear-resistant and chemically stable silicate mineral. ".Due to the high melting point of quartz sand (1750°C), the ancients reduced the melting temperature of quartz sand by adding fluxes (such as sodium carbonate). At the same time, auxiliary raw materials such as stabilizers (such as limestone) are also required to be added, and silicate glass can be manufactured through a certain process.

    Regarding the color of glass, it mainly depends on the kind of oxides in it. For example, the greening of glass is caused by the presence of a small amount of iron impurities in the raw material. The compound of divalent iron makes the glass appear green; adding manganese dioxide (tetravalent manganese) can oxidize the divalent iron to trivalent iron, which makes the glass yellow; if the tetravalent manganese is reduced to trivalent manganese, the glass is Vivid purple.

    In the same way, we can use the method of adding colorants to give glass a specific color. Most of these colorants are metal oxides. For example, cobalt oxide can make the glass appear blue, nickel oxide can make the glass appear brown, and copper oxide can make the glass appear green. In addition, by adjusting the smelting temperature and the properties of the furnace flame, the valence of the metal elements can also be adjusted, so that the glass presents different colors.

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Post time: May-05-2022