Removal Of Bubbles And Dissolved Gases From Glass Melts: The Critical Step In High Quality Glass Production

The removal of gas bubbles from glass melts is an essential process step for the manufacturing of glass products free of gaseous inclusions. After batch melting, typically 105-106 bubbles (diameter 0.05-0.5mm) and seeds per kilo of molten glass may be formed in industrial glass furnaces. The removal of these gaseous inclusions from the melt is generally called "fining." The fining process, which can be separated into two stages, primary and secondary fining, will be discussed in this article.