Influence of refining agent in soda lime glass for ultraviolet ray transmittance

Abstract

We have studied the refining effects of refining agents and ultraviolet transmitting property of soda lime glass, for the purpose of developing ultraviolet transmitting glass with soda lime glass composition which is one of an inexpensive glasses. It was found that for glass that requires ultraviolet transmitting property, antimony oxide, which is commonly used as a refining agent, cannot be used because it has an ultraviolet absorption band. In addition, it turned out that it becomes possible to actualize both bubble quality and ultraviolet transmitting property by adding a small amount of iron oxide and making the glass reductive. The transmission of the bubble-free glass sample obtained in this study was 78% at 260 nm, which is not problematic for practical applications. © 2008 The Japan Institute of Metals.