The technologies for processing building materials for the most part are developing in the direction of increasing capacity and productivity. These are important indicators of the workflow for servicing solid materials, but for fragile products, other characteristics come to the fore. Almost any glass treatment should provide an accurate and accurate effect on the material so as not to disrupt the structure of the future work surface.
Glass Cutting Techniques
In industry and production use an automated method of such processing. Machines can be different - for example, equipment with mechanical cutting heads is traditionally used. A rather promising area is waterjet cutting of glass, which is highly accurate and has no negative side effects. The operator of such an installation can accurately and very finely perform processing regardless of the complexity of the cutting line. In this case, the water jet, supplemented by particles of sand abrasive, acts directly as a working element for the implementation of cutting.
The waterjet method was preceded by sandblasting. In essence, the principle of operation is the same, but air is used instead of a liquid medium. As for the quality of the result, glass cutting by a sandblasting apparatus is inferior to waterjets. But on the other hand, this method is more economical in view of the absence of the need to summarize the water resource.
Matting
The purpose of this treatment is to provide the glass surface with a haze. This task is achieved by mechanical action on the product by the above-mentioned sandblasting. Of course, in this case, completely different indicators of power and power supply of the abrasive are used, but the principle of operation of the equipment remains the same. A jet of compressed air, diluted with sand elements, is fed to the surface of the target object. It is important to note that the sandblasting machine for processing glass is capable of performing not only continuous matting, but also forming decorative patterns and patterns on the surface. That is, the device can also allow for decoration - the main thing is to set a special mode of operation for this and adjust the abrasive grit parameters.
Bevelling
Often the edge of the glass sheet is also treated. The bevelling technique also provides highly accurate and accurate processing, which involves several steps. First of all, coarse grinding is performed with the cleaning of pronounced surface defects. This is followed by a clean grinding and two final polishing steps. As a rule, the processing of the edge of the glass is carried out in order to round the corners. But depending on the capabilities of the machine for bevelling, the user can get special angle parameters in accordance with individual requirements. Equipment for such purposes is mainly supplied from China and can handle almost all standard sheet glass sizes.
Tempering glass
The tempering process is aimed at increasing the strength characteristics of glass. As the basic equipment, a furnace is used, which operates at temperatures of about 6000 ยฐ C. When heated, the conveyor rollers move the workpieces, protecting individual edges from overheating. The next stage of quenching involves a cooling effect. Thermal processing of glass forms mechanical compression forces on its surface, which helps to increase the strength of the material several times. As noted by technologists, hardening also gives products increased heat resistance and tolerance to strong vibration loads. It should be noted that glass should be subjected to direct machining before the tempering process, since after it it will be impossible to do this.
Bending
Also a popular processing technique, during which the master changes the shape of the product in accordance with certain requirements. A typical operation of this kind, for example, is to create bends. Technologically, the process provides for the execution of the procedure under high temperature exposure, which softens the structure of the material. For subsequent molding, a special matrix is โโused, in which the glass is processed by bending. Depending on the thickness of the product and the configuration of the bend, the correction process can take from 2 to 20 hours. At the end of the operation, as well as during hardening, cooling by air flows. By the way, equipment for hardening and bending is often combined on one production line. Together with the heat treatment, the user can form flat and curved glass products.
Chemical etching
The purpose of the application of this technique is also to ensure the dullness of the glass surface. Only, unlike the previous method, not a sandblasting tool is used, but a chemical effect. On special forms, glass and acid fumes are contacted, which as a result form insoluble salts. I must say that the types of glass processing by etching are quite diverse precisely because of the use of a wide group of chemical reagents. At the same time, not only directly active elements are noted, but also substances that cover areas not intended for processing. This is especially true for art processing operations. Another important difference between chemical treatment and sandblasting is hardening after contact with acidic media.
UV gluing
Bonding and adhesion technologies come from the need to solve the common problems of the electronics industry. The fact is that the combination of metal and glass into a single part previously did not allow for sufficient gas-tight resistance. The solution to the problem was the emergence of new methods that allow for better soldering. One of the most popular methods is bonding using special formulations. In addition to applying adhesive, it is also assumed that the glass is treated with ultraviolet radiation. In the polymerization process, the compound acquires sufficient strength and a wide range of other protective properties, not to mention the tightness of the binder.
Conclusion
The processing methods for glass products are mainly distinguished by the nature of the impact. The traditional and most common way to change the characteristics of such materials is mechanics. Cutting heads on machines and sandblasting machines act mechanically, making it possible to obtain both a high-quality cut and an artistic pattern on the surface. Glass processing equipment is also used, which provides for thermal exposure. As a result, blanks gain higher technical and operational qualities. This applies to quenching technology and chemical etching. There are new approaches to the processing of brittle material. Among them, one can distinguish a hydroabrasive cutting technique and gluing under the influence of ultraviolet rays.