THE EFFECTS OF PARTICLE-SIZE AND ADDITIONS OF NA2SO4 AND NANO3 ON THEREACTIONS IN SODA LIME SILICA GLASS BATCHES

The coupled effects of particle size and additions of 1 Wt% Na2SO4 or NaNO3 on the melting reactions in a multicomponent system (sand-soda a sh-calcite-dolomite-feldspar) were studied using data from thermal ana lysis and x-ray diffraction interactively. Glass batches were varied i n average particle size from 250 mum to finer than 45 mum. Low tempera ture liquid phase formation was enhanced with decreasing particle size , which in turn lowered the temperature of liquid phase attack on sili ca grains. NaNO3 additions were more effective than Na2SO4 additions i n enhancing low temperature liquid phase formation. The magnitude of r eactions involving NaNO3 were most dramatic in the batch of finest par ticle size. The mechanism by which reactive dissolution of quartz grai ns occurred is proposed.