Bubbles In Glass - The Problem And Some Approaches To Its Solution

Due to the forces of surface tension, bubbles in glass try to be round and they cannot form to relieve supersaturation in the glass melt except at points of inhomogeneity. The mechanics of bubble formation are analyzed. Theory coupled with experimental evidence indicate that the problem is larger than mere removal of residual melting bubbles by Stokes' Law rise. The circumstances and conditions of bubble formation in practice are discussed. Statistical quality control analyses of bubble counts are presented illustrating that correlation with causes by empirical statistical methods is a means of finding and confirming suspected causes.