Production of high silica glass microspheres

摘要

Production of microspheres having a very high silica content produced from a starting glass whose silica content is less than 80% by weight, with the remainder being essentially made up of boron oxide and one or more alkaline oxide(s). This starting glass is reduced into fine particles by grinding, optionally mixed with a fluidizing agent, and then passed through the flame of a burner at a temperature at least equal to 1500 DEG C. to form molten hollow microspheres which are suddenly cooled to form solid hollow microspheres. The microspheres produced thereby are recovered and contacted with a dealkalization agent to increase the silica content thereof to at least 92%.