Chapter 660: Three-color glass (please vote and subscribe)
Although he knew that it was impossible to succeed in one go, Luo Chong was still a little disappointed when he really saw the failure. However, he was not discouraged. The development of technology is like this. He can only summarize experience from failure after failure. This is the modern scientific spirit. Everything must be rigorously verified. Luo Chong personally presided over the experiment, and there was also a factor of deliberately guiding the thinking of these craftsmen.
Modern scientific experiments are actually like doing elimination methods, or lottery, listing countless combinations of formulas and then trying them one by one, so the second experiment started soon.
Because the first pot of glass liquid was turbid and milky white, Luo Chong had people reduce the proportion of chalk accordingly, and soon the raw materials of the second furnace began to burn.
During this time, some people observed the first failed glass products, while others tried to deduce more uses based on the glass characteristics they had just mastered. However, everyone's vision is limited after all. After the two major directions of utensils and building materials were determined, they really couldn't think of any other uses.
At this time, the furnace worker in charge of firing the furnace adjusted the observation port of the sintering furnace and began to look at the milky white turbid glass. I don't know what he suddenly thought of, and then he suddenly sighed.
"This glass can actually be used if it is not transparent, right?"
Everyone looked at him, and Luo Chong was no exception, so he asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Chief, I don't know about other craftsmen, but we who fire the furnace should be able to use it. I used to be in the metallurgical workshop, and I could only rely on visual observation to see the furnace temperature and fire. The molten iron was burned into orange-red, which was very dazzling. After looking at it for a long time, everything else became blurry. I feel that if I continue to fire the furnace for a few more years, my eyes will be blind.
So I wonder if I can use a piece of not too transparent glass, as long as I can barely observe the color of the molten iron, and then block this glass in front of my eyes to block the dazzling light."
Everyone looked at each other when they heard the words, and only a few furnace workers looked empathetic and expressed their urgent need for eye protection.
The other craftsmen who had not had much contact with the furnace were not sure, and they were not sure whether glass could meet this special function, so everyone looked at the leader again.
Luo Chong smiled and thought to himself, there is no invention without demand, it seems that only when humans have an urgent need for something, this kind of thing will come into being.
After sighing, Luo Chong nodded and said, "Your idea is very good. In fact, glass can not only be made transparent, but also made into a colored transparent body. If we can make a dark transparent glass, it will be the best material for protecting the eyes."
"Really?!"
"It would be great if we could make this kind of glass."
Hearing Luo Chong's affirmative answer, several furnace-burning craftsmen were all excited. They didn't expect that the problem that had troubled them for so long was finally solved. It seems that being transferred to the glass factory is not a bad thing.
"Of course, but if you want to make this kind of glass, you have to work together." Luo Chong nodded affirmatively and encouraged everyone.
"Yes, leader, we will never give up." Hearing the encouragement, everyone shouted in unison, and everyone's enthusiasm for developing glass became increasingly high.
The subsequent experiments continued in the hot shed. On the first day alone, more than 20 experiments were conducted in a row. Time was passing quickly, and the materials were consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Although they kept failing, it was obvious that the quality of the defective products had been improving, so no one gave up.
After a night's rest, Luo Chong came to the shed early the next day, and then personally compared the formula that had been modified more than 20 times, as well as hundreds of large and small pieces of glass on the table. These defective products ranged from milky white at the beginning to black-brown, and some were full of tiny impurities and bubbles. Only the last experiment yesterday was slightly better in quality, and it was already in a clear colorless state, but the dense bubbles inside could not be eliminated.
"Well, this formula is almost right, but there are too many bubbles. We have to find a way." Luo Chong looked at the recorded proportions of various materials and murmured.
After a while, the people who participated in the experiment came to the shed. They started working early, wanting to take advantage of the cool weather in the early morning to do more experiments. It was summer now, and it was really uncomfortable to stay next to the furnace at noon.
With the experimental data of the first day as the basis, Luo Chong only slightly changed the formula this time, adjusted the proportion of the catalyst, and then started burning again.
This time the glass liquid was perfect. The liquid glass in the red state showed a transparent feeling. It seemed that because all the materials were decomposed and neutralized, there were almost no impurities left because of the excessive proportion of any one material. This shows that the formula is getting closer and closer to perfection.
However, Luo Chong still did not relax at this time. He knew that the process of defoaming the glass had just begun. If this problem was not solved, even if the color of the fired glass was transparent, it would be useless if it was full of bubbles.
"Heat it for a while, then stir it with an iron hook. Remember to stir it for a while, which is conducive to the removal of bubbles." Luo Chong looked at the red-hot glass liquid and said to the craftsmen.
"Yes, don't worry, Chief. I think it will work this time." A craftsman replied confidently.
Luo Chong did not speak, but quietly waited for the results of the experiment. After a while, the furnace of glass liquid was brought out, and the craftsman who had been ready with an iron hook immediately began to stir it. The iron hook rotated rapidly in the crucible, from slow to fast, and then slowed down because of exhaustion. Luo Chong immediately ordered a replacement, and then continued to stir. Finally, when the glass liquid was about to lose its fluidity, Luo Chong ordered the glass liquid to be poured into the mold.
After cooling, the glass block was colorless and transparent, but the surface felt a little frosted because of the mold, but this was not important. After Luo Chong had the iron bucket placed aside smashed, he took out the broken glass this time, and the bubbles inside were still clearly visible.
Seeing this scene, everyone was a little discouraged. They didn't know what went wrong. Everyone had done a good job, but why couldn't they eliminate the bubbles in the glass?
Luo Chong didn't get too entangled. He actually knew the chemical reagents to eliminate glass bubbles. He just wanted to try whether there was any physical means to eliminate all the bubbles. However, looking at the current experimental results, it was obviously not possible without using chemical reagents.
"Let's have another furnace. This time, add some defoaming agent, but wait until it is sintered before adding it." Luo Chong ordered everyone.
"Yes."
Everyone quickly started working again. It didn't take long for the second furnace of glass liquid to be burned, but this time it was not stirred immediately. Luo Chong first asked everyone to wear thick masks, and then asked all irrelevant personnel to go out. Then he ordered the remaining three people to add defoaming agent, and then continued to stir. After the two people in charge of stirring were exhausted, Luo Chong asked them to return the glass liquid to the furnace for heating again, and then return it to the furnace again after a second stirring. After repeating this three times, it was poured into the mold.
After the glass cooled down, everyone came to check the results. They smashed a piece of glass again. From the cross section, they could clearly see that the density of bubbles had decreased a lot. Although there were still many bubbles, it had decreased significantly compared with the previous dozens of times. This showed that the defoamer prepared by Luo Chong was effective. The next experiment only needed to gradually increase the amount of defoamer and find the correct value. Seeing this result, everyone's eyes lit up and they saw the hope of success in their hearts.
"Leader, what is this defoamer? It looks very effective." A student who was responsible for recording experimental data pinched a little white powder and put it under his nose to smell it.
"Don't smell it, it's highly toxic." Seeing this silly boy so reckless, Luo Chong immediately grabbed his hand and reminded him loudly.
The student was startled. When he heard the leader say that the defoamer was highly toxic, he quickly threw it back into the bamboo tube and then stood there at a loss.
"Chief, what should we do now? Can this thing be washed with clean water?"
"Yes, you can wash it with clean water, but the water will be highly toxic. Be careful to dispose of the water and don't dump it randomly." Luo Chong frowned and nodded, and then told everyone to be careful when touching any unknown materials in the future, especially smelling and tasting, which is simply courting death.
"Chief, what is the defoaming agent? How toxic is it? If it is made into glassware and used to store food, will it be toxic?" After seeing Luo Chong finish giving the precautions, one of them hurriedly asked the most critical question.
"This is arsenic, which is highly toxic, but it is also a medicinal material. It can be mixed with water for bathing and can effectively kill parasites on the body surface. However, because it is too toxic, it can only be used externally and must not be taken internally, otherwise it will definitely kill people. You all remember this clearly.
In addition, arsenic can be used as a defoaming agent for glass. In this defoaming reaction, it will be directly decomposed and there is no need to worry about the problem of toxin residues. Many reagents used in industry are actually highly toxic, but it does not affect the use of the final product. You just need to be careful in the future." Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Luo Chong explained to everyone in great detail in order to avoid unnecessary accidents.
Arsenic was the defoaming agent that Luo Chong got. It was precisely because arsenic was highly toxic that Luo Chong did not want to use it at first. It was only because physical methods could not eliminate the bubbles in the glass that he had to use this highly toxic raw material. However, it was nothing to use it. The only thing to worry about was a poisoning accident.
The source of arsenic was of course Luo Chong himself. He knew that this thing was actually just a sulfur-arsenic compound, another derivative form of realgar, so it didn't take much effort to make it. It was nothing more than roasting realgar ore. After the realgar was heated, the arsenic sulfide inside combined with the oxygen in the air to produce light yellow arsenic smoke. Then use a pipe or container to collect these poisonous smoke, and finally get arsenic powder. In fact, it is very similar to the method of making pine soot ink. The only thing to pay attention to is not to be fumigated by the poisonous smoke.
This is also the reason why Luo Chong asked everyone to wear masks when adding materials just now, because this thing may become a poison gas bomb if it is not handled properly, so it is still necessary to take precautions.
With this successful experience, the next experiment was much simpler. Everyone kept burning until the afternoon. After eight experiments, as the amount of arsenic added each time increased, the bubbles in the glass were finally eliminated. Just looking at the last experimental data, the amount of arsenic used in it made Luo Chong very speechless.
"The amount of arsenic used is too large. If we want to mass produce glassware, we have to build another factory that specializes in producing arsenic. That way, we can meet the demand here." Luo Chong thought to himself.
Having made up his mind, Luo Chong did not let them celebrate immediately after seeing the excitement of the people because of the successful trial production of glass. Instead, he asked them to record the detailed formula of this success and led the craftsmen to continue to tackle other difficulties.
Now the most basic glass liquid has reached the standard, but the production process has just begun. Looking at the metal operating tables around him, with various knives, scissors, and several iron pipes on them, Luo Chong immediately explained the production method of glass blowing to the pottery craftsmen who are good at plasticity of utensils.
The remaining part of the people, under the leadership of Luo Chong, began to tackle the formula of colored glass.
The dyeing process of glass is different from the flame color reaction of metal, but if you want to change the color of glass, you have to add metal. Of course, pure metal is not enough. Generally, if you want to use metal as a pigment, it is better to use metal oxide, such as iron oxide used to dye red cloth.
Luo Chong tried to add black copper oxide crystals to the basic formula, and finally successfully obtained green transparent glass. He asked the craftsman to blow out a glass bottle with a shape similar to the modern green beer bottle in the iron mold, which made Luo Chong very happy and made him feel as if he had traveled back to the modern times.
The success of green transparent glass did not satisfy Luo Chong. He then tried to add iron oxide crystals to the basic formula. Finally, after several experiments, he successfully obtained brown transparent glass.
This brown glass is also very widely used. Luo Chong remembered that he had seen a lot of brown beer bottles when he was a child in his previous life, but more of them were large glass bottles used for medicine, as well as various experimental equipment he came into contact with in chemistry class after school. So he knew that brown glass containers were the best containers for some photosensitive materials. Therefore, the successful manufacture of this thing was also very useful for the Han tribe.
(End of this chapter)
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