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Glassblowing is a glass forming technique that involves inflating the molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of the blow pipe, or blow tube. It is a process that is used to shape glass. Limestone, sand, potash, and soda ash must first be combined and heated in a furnace at over 1093.3°C. While the glass is in a molten state, the art of glassblowing is performed.
In order to perform glass blowing, the artist must have a blowpipe. The tip of the blow pipe is preheated by dipping it in the molten glass as it’s in the furnace. A ball of the molten glass is accumulated on the blowpipe and rolled onto a tool called a marver, which is usually a thick sheet of steel that lies flat.
Glass blowing is a glass forming technique which was invented by the Phoenician sat approximately 50B.C. The earliest evidence of glass blowing comes from a collection of waste from a glass workshop, including fragments of glass tubes, glass rods and tiny blown bottles, which was dumped in a mikvah, a ritual bath in the Jewish Quarter of Old City of Jerusalem dated from 37 to 4 B.C. Some of the glass tubes recovered are fire –closed at one end and are partially inflated by blowing through the opened while still hot to form small bottle, thus they are considered as a rudimentary form of blowpipe. Hence, tube blowing not only represents the initial attempts of experimentation by glass workers at blowing glass, it is also are evolutionary step the induced a change in conception and a deep understanding of glass. Such invention swiftly eclipsed all other traditional methods, such as casting and core-forming, in working glass.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Lab ware should be washed as quickly as possible after use. If lab wear is not cleaned immediately, it might become impossible to remove any residue.
Lab ware cleaners range from soap, detergents, cleaning powder and acid. Soaps and Detergents when mixed with water are slippery and Acids tend to be Corrosive and Carcinogenic. This calls for extreme caution during cleaning as either alternative could lead to breakage of Lab ware which can be harmful to the person washing and equally a financial loss in the long run. (http//:sigma aldrich.com)
As a student of chemistry in my High School, it was recorded that I broke 42 Test tubes in the 2 Years of my A’ Level. In a Class of 38 Students, approximately 371 Test Tubes were broken and this was attributed to the less friction which caused the slippery texture of the test tube.
(S. Derler a,, L.-C. Gerhardt a, A. Lenz a, E. Bertaux a, M. Hadad b ) studied the Friction of human skin against smooth and rough glass as a function of the contact pressure and concluded that Contributions to the friction coefficient due to viscoelastic skin deformations were relatively small. When the deformation component of friction was important in combination with adhesion, the pressure dependence of the friction coefficients showed weak trends characterized by exponents between 0.1 and +0.2. If hydrodynamic lubrication came into play under
wet sliding conditions on smooth glass, the friction coefficients of skin were strongly reduced compared to dry friction, and their decrease with increasing contact pressures was characterized by exponents of 0.7.
M.M Mahmoud studied The Frictional Behavior of 8 Different Glove Materials Sliding against Glass and concluded that Latex showed the higher friction values followed by synthetic rubber, wool, cotton, natural leather and polyester. I was also clear that the coefficient of friction increases with increasing the applied load except the gloves made of natural leather. Generally rough surfaces wear more quickly and have higher friction coefficient than smooth surfaces.
His experimental results conducted in this showed the dependency of glove materials section on the contact conditions to fulfill grip requirements and working conditions for efficient handling and mobility performance: Latex and synthetic rubber gloves can be recommended to handle dry glasses because both materials displayed higher values of friction. The reason could be attributed to the contact area and its role to increase or decrease the friction coefficient. Gloves made of natural leather can be advised to grip water wetted glasses due to displaying a steady ascending frictional manner and this is attributed to on the water absorbability of natural leathers interconnected with the triboelectrification concepts. Natural Leather gloves can be nominated to hold oily glasses due to the existed ridges and protrusions on the leather surfaces. These ridges and protrusions work as oil store which it can feed oil back to the sliding surface.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The current test tubes being used by lab users are designed with a smooth outer surface which makes them slippery when being handled, especially during washing. This leads to many breakages, an average of about 538 pieces per month at School Labs. As a matter of fact, test tubes are the most frequently used of all lab ware; in terms of heating samples, mixing chemicals, holding samples, among others. This Study aims at Re-Fabricating the upper outer surface of the test tube with a texture that can be easier or more friendly to the grip and increase Friction thus reducing the number of breakages.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study will focus on designing test tubes that will have a mesh embossing on their outer upper surface aimed at increasing fiction between the human hands and test tubes, to reduce easy breakage through slipperiness. This will be targeting students using laboratories in secondary school and lab users in the petroleum industry. When successfully implemented in schools, parents and guardians will save money they have been previously spending on paying from replacements of lab ware. Students will gain more confidence in partaking of studies that are lab related since their fear of breaking test tubes will subside.
SIGNIFICANCE
This fabrication will provide lab users with test tubes that are easier to hold, making them less susceptible to direct contact with chemicals in case of breakage of the same. With better handling of test tubes, institutions will greatly reduce on their annual purchases of test tubes, leading to saving their finances for other purposes.
To create opportunities for self-employment for professionals who may want to try out this method to modify existing test tubes.
To boost confidence of students in taking part in laboratory sessions in schools, as one of their fears would have been alleviated.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
Experimental Apparatus and Procedure
- A furnance- |For heating the glass
- glory hole – for reheating the glass
- An annealer – for cooling the glass
- Marver table – for shaping the molten glass
- Blow Pipe for blowing into the glass bubble
- Hand Tools like jacks, paddle, shears and tweezers.
- A large pitcher of water
- Old newspapers.
A convenient length of tube for the first trial which will be about one foot (1ft); this will be cut off from the longer piece, in which it is usually supplied, as follows: lay the tube on a flat surface and make a deep cut with the edge of a file.
- Select some 10 to 18 mm OD tubing. A 16 inch length with fire polished ends is a good piece to start with.
- Light your torch and adjust the flame to match the tubing diameter.
- Grasp the tubing with both hands and start rotating it.
- Place the rotating tube in the flame at the halfway (8′) point.
- When the tube softens and constricts to half its original diameter, remove it from the flame, do not stop rotating, and slowly pull the two ends about 6 -8′ apart.
- Place the tubing back into the flame and burn it off into two equal lengths. (Pulling Poits). Place the points on the hot glass rest to cool. Reminder: hot glass looks just like cold glass. Roll the glass point (after cooling) on a flat surface. If your rotation is good the glass tube and ‘point’ will be centered with no wobble.
- Flame will be adjusted to a sharp/intense profile.
- Place the shoulder of the glass point into the flame at an angle – rotating at all times – and pull off the excess glass, leaving a semi-rounded bottom.
- Blow hose assembly will be attached to the glass tube.
- Reheat the tube bottom to the working point temperature and blow (little puffs), shaping the tube bottom.
- Anneal. Remember, a glassblowing job is never complete until the glassware is annealed!
- After Completion of annealing the Round bottom Base, place the upper open end to the flame and heat it and it slightly softens.
- Take it off the flame and gently rotate the upper end about a ‘cm’ from the top on a wire mess to obtain a required rough texture.
- lastly, Anneal.
