Highly Stressed Throats: Options For Better Furnace Wear Balancing

Glass furnace performance has undergone continuous improvement throughout the last century, increasing campaign life from a few months to over 10 years for container glass and 15 years for float. This has been made possible through furnace design evolution, application of new types of refractories, fusion temperature increase and continuous development of fusion know-how. Yet, during this process, throats have been, in most cases, among the most critical areas of the fusion tank, particularly for oil/gas fired container furnaces. This article examines the options for balancing wear of highly stressed throats, and other critical areas.