PNNL

Abstract

Abstract Glass making efficiency largely depends on heat transfer to reacting glass batch (melter feed), which in turn is influenced by the bulk density (?b) and porosity (?) as functions of temperature (T). Neither b(T) nor ?(T) functions are readily accessible to direct measurement, but they can be determined based on monitoring the profile area of heated glass batch pellets and material density of batches quenched at various stages of conversion via pycnometry. For the determination of ?b, the bulk volume must be calculated as a function of temperature. This is done via a program constructed in MATLAB which takes an image of a pellet profile at a given temperature and calculates the volume of said pellet. The quenched density measured by pycnometry must be converted to the density at heat treatment temperature. This is done by taking into account the volume change due to thermal expansion/contraction.