Electric melting of glass

StaNeK j., Electric Melting of Glass, Elsevier, Amsterdarn-Oxford-New York, 1977. 

There are large-scale operations using direct-heat resistance furnaces. These are mainly in melting bulk materials where the Hquid material serves as a uniform resistor. The material is contained in a cmcible of fixed dimensions which, coupled with a given resistivity of the material, fixes the total resistance within reasonable limits. The most common appHcation for this type of direct-heat electric resistance furnace is the melting of glass (qv) and arc furnaces for the melting of steel (qv). 

Electrical conductivity of glasses and their melts, especially from the point of view of the mechanisms involved, is dealt with in detail by Mjuller (1968), Doremus (1973) and others. 

A number of reviews have appeared covering the various aspects of borate glasses. The stmcture, physical properties, thermochemistry, reactions, phase equihbria, and electrical properties of alkah borate melts and glasses have been presented (73). The apphcation of x-ray diffraction, nmr, Raman scattering, in spectroscopy, and esr to stmctural analysis is available (26). Phase-equihbrium diagrams for a large number of anhydrous borate systems are included in a compilation (145), and thermochemical data on the anhydrous alkah metal borates have been compiled (17). 

The alignment of a lamellar microstructure by electric fields has been reported [64], The electric fields were applied across a melt of a PS-PMMA block copolymer and were maintained throughout cooling down to below the glass transition point. SAXS studies show persuasive evidence that the microstructure was aligned by an electric field. 

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