design guide for glass parts 2

[HDS]

I am looking for a guide for designing glass lab ware. The plastics suppliers have good literature that describes the capabilities of the materials and process but I have not found that for glass yet. Can you please show me where to find it?

 

[Anat0ly]

There are two books I can recommend, and I can also offer you answers to most glassware design related questions you may have.

"Scientific Glassblowing" by E. L Wheeler and G. Ross Robertson

and

"Scientific and industrial glass blowing and laboratory techniques" by W. E Barr

I am an experienced scientific glassblower, so if you have any further questions I will be happy to help. What is it that you are trying to do? Thanks.

 

[HDS]

I am trying to get prepared for some projects that are coming up that will have some low volume production of glass parts like tubes, vials, and manifolds. I want to get an understanding of the capabilities and limits of glass. What are the aspects of the design you want to avoid?

It looks like the production processes for glass are mature. The first book was from 1969 and the other is from 1949.

 

[kenvlach]

Most laboratory glassware is made from borosilicate glass such as Corning's Pyrex® Brand 7740 Glass (Borosilicate - Low Expansion - Type I Glass).
Some technical properties are here:

http://www.corning.com/Lifesciences/technical_information/techDocs/descglasslabware.asp#7789

Glass Terminology, including mention of applicable ASTM & Federal specifications:

http://www.corning.com/Lifesciences/technical_information/techDocs/glassterminology.asp

Looks like lots of info here, too:

http://www.glassproperties.com/

Tubing can be made by extrusion & vials by highly automated blow forming within molds. These processes for glass forming are given in manufacturing processes & materials textbooks. See 'Glass container industry' at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_container_industry

I've only seen manifolds made for specific projects, by a scientific glassblower. The Handbook of Materials for Product Design has a chapter on 'Inorganic Glasses' which includes a viscosity vs. temperature plot for various glasses (p. 8.4 in 3rd Edn., original source is Corning).

A significant difference between plastic & glass forming (besides the higher temperature) is that glassware requires an annealing step afterwards.