New "Crystal"

The use of lead in crystal glassware currently poses serious environmental problems. To overcome this, a lead free crystal is presented in this paper. On the basis of the data provided by the CD-ROM INTER GLAD, barium-, strontium- and zinc oxide-based formulations have been chosen, molten down and then analyzed. The results obtained with various different formulations show physical properties (RI, Abbe number, density, microhardness, expansion, viscosity and hydrolytic resistance) close to or better than those of lead crystal. The authors also looked at the possibility of obtaining an acid polish.