Effects of Mixed Alkaline Earth Oxides in Potash Silicate Glass

The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of mixed alkaline earth oxide in potash silicate glasses with regards to their physical properties. More recently; there has been an increase in the demand for light weight glasses which retains their physical and chemical properties for both domestic and industrial applications. The effect of mixing Alkaline earth oxide in potash silicate glass on their density, thermal properties and other physical properties has been studied. As for the method used, raw materials were collected, batch calculations were made, and the batches (A and B) were melted in an electric furnace to produce blocks of glasses. Three pieces were cut out of the block of glasses, grinded, polished and re – annealed. The re – annealed glasses were measured, for their densities, thermal, toughness, hardness, elastic moduli and brittleness. More so micrographs of the indented glasses were taken.Results showed that mixed alkaline effect (MgO:CaO) is minimal on the densities of the A glass series while the addition of (MgO:BaO) to the glass matrix of the B glass series increased its density. The crystallization temperatures of the glasses were influenced by the addition of alkaline earth oxides. The hardness and brittleness of both glass series (A and B) decreases with increasing magnesia fraction of the total alkaline earth oxide. The fracture toughness increases as the magnesia fraction of the total alkaline earth oxide increases. Conclusively, glasses of different properties depending on the desired requirement can be obtained by varying the known quantities of mixed alkaline earth oxides.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i4.1