APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REDUCING GASEOUS INCLUSIONS IN A GLASS

摘要

A glass manufacturing system and a method are described herein for reducing gaseous inclusions in high melting temperature or high strain point glasses, such as those that are used as glass substrates in flat panel display devices. In one embodiment, the method including the steps of: (a) heating a batch material within a melting vessel to form molten glass at a melting temperature TM, the molten glass comprising a multivalent oxide material; (b) heating the molten glass within a fining vessel to a fining temperature TF = TM; and (c) cooling the molten glass within a refractory tube after the first heating step or after the second heating step to a cooling temperature TC less than TM, where the molten glass remains within the refractory tube for a predetermined resident time to reduce a volume of the gaseous inclusions in the molten glass and cause gas species to migrate out of the gaseous inclusions into the molten glass such that at least a portion of the gaseous inclusions collapse into the molten glass.