Glass Conditioning By Viscosity Control

During the forming process of a glass melt the viscosity is the dominant process parameter. Up to now in industrial glass container production only temperature-controlled systems have been used. With these control elements only thermally induced variations of viscosity are visible. Variations in the composition, the redox state, the water and the SO3 content in the melting process cause a shift in viscosity. Up to now these changes have not been detectable and therefore, not possible to compensate for them. A measuring device for the continuous determination of viscosity in the glass was developed and tested for several months in a container plant. All measured variations of the viscosity can now be corrected according to this paper.