Quality Control of Raw Materials Used for Glass Melting

摘要

The glass-melting operation at Sandia National Laboratories supports glass and glass-ceramic applications requiring specific chemical and mechanical properties. The quality of the raw materials used as sources of oxides in the glass melts is very important. After several years of operation, our stockroom contained over 100 raw materials of reagent grade quality. The stockpile provided an excellent opportunity to determine just how suitable these materials were for glass fabrication. Materials were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and by x-ray diffraction (XRD); 34% were not what we thought they were. Errors included mislabeling, incorrect oxidation state, and H sub 2 O and CO sub 2 contamination. As a result, quality control procedures have been revised to include specific incoming analysis and storage procedures. The presentation highlights the analytical findings and the revised quality control procedures. (ERA citation 12:008391)