Autopsy of a Furnace Frozen Full of Glass

William W. Johnson Corning Incorporated

Abstract A glass furnace was frozen full of glass and autopsied to reveal information on inclusions, convection, and glass chemistry fields. Direct observation of the glass within a furnace provided a step-change improvement in our understanding of this melting process and direction for improvement of our models.

INTRODUCTION Routine measurements on an operating glass furnace typically include: installed thermocouples readings, electrical parameters of joule-heating circuits, and characteristics of the final glassware including chemistry, physical properties and defect levels.

Non-routine measurements include tracer studies, temperature probing, and hot glass sampling.

All these measurements provide only partial or indirect information considering the complex nonlinear chemistry and physics occurring within a glass melting furnace. To fill this gap, additional understanding can be provided by laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling.

For math and laboratory models to be most effective, they must include the correct physics and need to be validated more directly. Therefore, there is a great need to see inside the actual process. To address this need, a production-scale furnace was frozen with full of glass and autopsied. This allowed inspection of solid and gaseous inclusions, convection and glass chemistry throughout the furnace. COOL-DOWN At 0845 hours, energy to the furnace was turned off resulting in the cool-down profile shown in Figure 1. After the initial temperature drop, the furnace was held for a period of time near the anneal temperature, and then allowed to slowly cool to ambient temperature. One concern addressed beforehand was the effect of the cool down on glass convection. We did not want to alter the process in a way that confused the integrity of our frozen-glass observations. Simulations of the cool down indicated no unusually convective behavior.

Glass motion retained its basic structure, and slowed down gracefully until motion stopped 3 or 4 hours into the simulation.

Figure 1 Furnace Cool-Down

Furnace Cool-Down

Temperature

13,000 Poise

700
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 0:00

Time

SAWING & SAMPLING The glass was cut using a circular saw with a diamond-tipped water-cooled blade. We sectioned five longitudinal slices of glass at different locations across the width of the furnace. On each section, approximately 100 samples were labeled by location in a grid-like fashion. In total, the mass of glass in the furnace was reduced to matrix of 500 samples spanning its entire volume. Figure 2 shows the sawing operation.

Figure 2 Sawing Frozen Furnace Glass

INCLUSIONS Stone and blister levels of the samples were measured which provided valuable information on the inclusion distribution throughout the furnace.

The next two figures are contour plots of this measured data. The inclusion levels span several orders-of-magnitude, so exponential contour intervals are used. The actual measured values are not shown for proprietary reasons.

Stones (figure 3) are found at high levels near the sidewalls, where batch seems to preferentially melt. By looking at the stone concentration maps, one can imagine the flow down the walls carrying the stones down the sidewall to the bottom where they finally dissolve.

The autopsy samples also provided opportunity to study the morphology and size distribution of residual sand grains. Additionally, laboratory melting studies on stones recovered from the autopsy provided information on the additional time to complete dissolution. Figure 3 Stone Levels in Furnace

Measured Stone Level Distribution

Figure 4 is a contour plot of actual measured blister density throughout the glass bath. As expected, bubble density is higher than stone density. There is foamy glass on the top surface containing bubbles too high to count, that is not shown in the plot. High levels of blisters near the sidewall again imply batch preferentially is melting near the sidewalls.

It is also found that in certain regions of the furnace, the void fraction gradient of bubbles can alter the bulk glass density to an amount greater than that caused by temperature gradients. This can be addressed in models by including bubble density in the calculation of glass density.

Blister gas analysis was performed on bubbles captured in the autopsy glass. Interpretation of these bubbles had to consider the gas-exchange between bubble and glass during the cool-down that likely altered the gas chemistry.

Figure 4 Blister Levels in Furnace

Measured Blister Level Distribution

TRACER STUDY Tracer studies are a conventional technique to measure a furnaces residence-time distribution. Typically, a tracer material is introduced within the batch, and the concentration of this tracer in the exiting glassware is monitoring across time. The net result of this type of work is a plot of tracer concentration vs. time, which after proper normalization is the residence-time distribution curve.

In this study, our approach is to introduce tracers within the batch, but measure their concentration by position throughout the furnace at the freeze-up time. This provides much more revealing and detailed information about the glass flows. Two tracers were introduced some amount of time before the furnace energy was turned off. The tracer was timed to allow for a reasonable development of the tracer profile throughout the furnace before the freeze-up. Yttrium oxide was introduced through a right-side batch charger and Lanthanum oxide from one on the left.

Figures 5 and 6 are contour plots of measured tracer concentration. Concentrations are in ppm by weight. Highest concentrations of tracer are found near the sidewall and backwall corners. This is consistent with finding high stones and blisters in these locations. Flow patterns can be inferred (with a little imagination) from the tracer concentration contours. The most obvious motion is down the side wallsblister and stone density plots also confirm this. Away from the sidewalls(slices 2,3,4), glass moves forward and downward. There is direct evidence of a surface short-circuit near the left frontwall corner (Figure 6). Consistent with this are increased blister and stone levels in this vicinity. Figure 5 : Right-Side Tracer Concentrations
Measured Right-Side Tracer Concentration

Figure 6 : Left-Side Tracer Concentrations

Measured Left-Side Tracer Concentration

CHEMISTRY
Glass does not naturally melt to a uniform composition within a furnace. Chemistry gradients were clearly observed in this autopsy. For modelers, off-chemistry is a bothersome loose end, given the homogeneous glass assumption typically used in glass melting furnace simulations. Glass properties are very sensitive to chemistry.

The surface glass in figure 7 was sampled from mid-length down the furnace and includes a high bubble content layer containing some unmelted raw material. Strong cord is observed below the surface layer. The plot below the photo shows chemistry profiles in the vertical direction. Back and Front refer to other samples taking from those furnace locations. We have chemistry gradients in both vertical and longitudinal directions. An off-composition layer exists on the bottom of the furnace (figure 8). The layer is segregated, with a step-change in composition at the interface. Visually, there is a sharp mirror-like line between the layers, indicating different refractive indices.

Figure 7: Surface Glass and its Chemistry

Surface Glass and its Chemistry

Furnace Autopsy : Surface Glass Chemistry Profiles Glass Surface

Back Vertical Distance

Middle

Front

-50 55 Concentration of Oxide

Figure 8: Off-Composition Bottom Layer

Off-Composition Bottom Layer

Furnace Autopsy : Bottom Glass Microprobe
200

Distance from bottom

150

100

50

Bottom
0 15

Concentration of Oxide

CONCLUSIONS Demonstrated the useful information provided by autopsy of a frozen-up glass furnace. This study provided a step-change improvement in the understanding of our melting process. Some of the findings are disruptive to conventional furnace modeling techniques, namely treating glass melting as a pure thermal convection problem with homogeneous liquid phase and chemistry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The numerous colleagues from Corning who contributed to the planning, execution and postanalysis of this autopsy are gratefully acknowledged.

The author wishes to thank Cornings management for permission to present this work.