chat

Labware

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

Borosilicate glass was first developed by German glassmaker Otto Schott in the late 19th century and sold under the brand name "Duran" in 1893. After Corning Glass Works introduced Pyrex in 1915, the name became a synonym for borosilicate glass in the English-speaking world.

The European manufacturer of Pyrex, Arc International, uses borosilicate glass in its Pyrex glass kitchen products; however, the U.S. manufacturer of Pyrex kitchenware uses tempered soda-lime glass.Thus Pyrex can refer to either soda-lime glass or borosilicate glass when discussing kitchen glassware, while Pyrex, Bomex, Duran, TGI and Simax all refer to borosilicate glass when discussing laboratory glassware. The real difference is the trademark and the company that owns the Pyrex name. The original Corning ware made of borosilicate glass was trademarked in capital letters (PYREX). When the kitchen ware division was sold the trademark was changed to lowercase (pyrex) and was made out of low thermal expansion soda-lime glass. You can check the bottom of new kitchen ware and old kitchen ware and see an immediate difference. The scientific division of Pyrex has always been made of borosilicate glass.

In addition to the quartz, sodium carbonate, and aluminum oxide traditionally used in glassmaking, boron is used in the manufacture of borosilicate glass. The composition of low expansion borosilicate glass such as those laboratory glasses mentioned above is approximately 80% silica, 13% boric oxide, 4% sodium oxide, and 2-3% aluminum oxide. Though more difficult to make than traditional glass due to the high melting temperature required (Corning conducted a major revamp of their operations to make it), it is economical to produce. Its superior durability, chemical and heat resistance finds excellent use in chemical laboratoryequipment, cookware, lighting and, in certain cases, windows.

 

Manufacturing process

 

Borosilicate glass is created by adding boric oxide to the traditional glassmaker's frit of silica sand, soda, and ground lime. Since borosilicate glass melts at a higher temperature than ordinary silicate glass, some new techniques were required for industrial production. Borrowing from the welding trade, burners combining oxygen with natural gas were required.

 

Physical characteristics

 

The common type of borosilicate glass used for laboratory glassware has a very low thermal expansion coefficient (3.3 x 10−6/K), about one-third that of ordinary soda-lime glass. This reduces material stresses caused by temperature gradients which makes borosilicate a more suitable type of glass for certain applications (see below). Fused quartzware is even better in this respect (having a fifteen times lower thermal expansion than soda-lime glass), however the difficulty of working with fused quartz makes quartzware much more expensive; borosilicate glass is a low-cost compromise. While more resistant to thermal shock than other types of glass, borosilicate glass can still crack or shatter when subjected to rapid or uneven temperature variations. When broken, borosilicate glass tends to crack into large pieces rather than shattering (it will snap rather than splinter).

The softening point (temperature at which viscosity is approximately 10^{7.6} poise) of type 7740 Pyrex is 820 °C (1,510 °F).

Borosilicate glass is less dense (at about 2.23g/cm3) than typical soda-lime glass due to the low atomic weight of boron.

The temperature differential borosilicate glass can withstand before fracturing is about 165.56 °C (330 °F). This compares well with soda lime glass, which can withstand only a 37.22 °C (99 °F) change in temperature and is why "Pyrex" kitchenware (soda lime glass) will shatter if a vessel containing boiling water is placed on ice, but Pyrex laboratory equipment (borosilicate glass) will not.

Optically, borosilicate glasses are crown glasses with low dispersion (Abbe numbers around 65) and relatively low refractive indices (1.51–1.54 across the visible range).

 

Usage

 

Borosilicate glass has a wide variety of uses ranging from cookware to lab equipment as well as a component of high quality products such as implantable medical devices and devices used in space exploration

 

Health and Science

 

Virtually all modern laboratory glassware is borosilicate glass. It is widely used in this application due to its chemical and thermal resistance and good optical clarity, but the glass can react with sodium hydride upon heating to produce sodium borohydride, a common laboratory reducing agent. Fused quartz is also found in some laboratory equipment when its higher melting point and transmission of UV are required (e.g. for tube furnace liners and UV cuvettes), but the cost and difficulty of working with quartz make it excessive for the majority of laboratory equipment.

Additionally, borosilicate tubing is used as the feedstock for the production of parenteral drug packaging, such as vials and pre-filled syringes, and is also used for the production of ampoules and dental cartridges. The chemical resistance of borosilicate glass minimizes the migration of sodium ions from the glass matrix thus making it well suited for injectable drug applications. This type of glass is typically referred to as USP / EP JP Type I.

Borosilicate is widely used in implantable medical devices such as prosthetic eyes, Artificial hip joints, bone cements, dental composite materials (white fillings) and even inbreast implants.

Many implantable devices benefit from the unique advantages of borosilicate glass encapsulation. Applications include veterinary tracking devices, neurostimulators for the treatment of epilepsy, implantable drug pumps, cochlear implants, and physiological sensors.

 

Electronics

 

During the mid-twentieth century, borosilicate glass tubing was used to pipe coolants (often distilled water) through high power vacuum tube–based electronic equipment, such as commercial broadcast transmitters.

Borosilicate glasses also find application in the semiconductor industry in the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), as part of stacks of etched silica wafers bonded to the etched borosilicate glass.

 

 

Lighting

 

Many high-quality flashlights use borosilicate glass for the lens. This allows for a higher percentage of light transmittance through the lens compared to plastics and lower-quality glass.

Several types of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, such as mercury vapor and metal halide lamps, use borosilicate glass as the outer envelope material.

New lampworking techniques led to artistic applications such as contemporary glass marbles. The modern studio glass movement has responded to color. "The availability of colors began to increase when companies such as Glass Alchemy introduced the Crayon Colors, which brought a whole new vivacity to the glass industry." Borosilicate is commonly used in the glassblowing form of lampworking and the artists create a range of products ranging from jewelry, kitchenware, to sculpture as well as for artistic glass smoking pipes.

Lighting manufacturers use borosilicate glass in their refractors.

Organic light emitting diode (for display and lighting purposes) also uses borosilicate glass (BK7). The thicknesses of the BK7 glass substrates are usually less than 1 millimeter for the OLED fabrication. Due to its optical and mechanical characteristics in relation with cost, BK7 is a common substrate in OLEDs. However, depending on the application, sodalime glass substrates of similar thicknesses are also used in OLED fabrication.

 

Borosilicate nanoparticles

 

It was initially thought that borosilicate glass could not be formed into nanoparticles, since an unstable boron oxide precursor prevented successful forming of these shapes. However, in 2008 a team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne were successful in forming borosilicate nanoparticles of 100 to 500 nanometers in diameter. The researchers formed a gel of tetraethylorthosilicate and trimethoxyboroxine. When this gel is exposed to water under proper conditions, a dynamic reaction ensues which results in the nanoparticles.

 

In lampworking

 

Borosilicate, or "boro" (as it is often called), is used extensively in the glassblowing process lampworking; the glassworker uses a burner torch to melt and form glass, using a variety of metal and graphite tools to shape it. Borosilicate is referred to as "hard glass" and has a higher melting point (approximately 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit / 1648 degrees Celsius) than "soft glass," which is preferred for glassblowing by beadmakers. Raw glass used in lampworking comes in glass rods for solid work and glass tubes for hollow work tubes and vessels/containers. Lampworking is used to make complex and custom scientific apparatus; most major universities have a lampworking shop to manufacture and repair their glassware. For this kind of "scientific glassblowing", the specifications must be exact and the glassblower must be highly skilled and able to work with precision. Lampworking is also done as art and common items made include goblets, paper weights, pipes, pendants, compositions and figurines.

 

contact

datais sanat abnous LTD

unit 5,no. 1,sima dead end,

yakhchal st ,shariati st.

theran iran

tel :(00) 98 21 22637682

or (00) 98 21 22637683

fax: (00) 98 21 22637662

email:info@dataissanat.com