Zulkowski's Theory of Relationship between Composition and Durability of Glass

JSGT 1922 V06 T068-T101

The elucidation of the constitution of glasses, a necessary preliminary for general correlation of composition and durability, has proved to be a problem of considerable complexity. The essentials of the vitreous state preclude many experimental methods successful in other cases. Stoichiometric proportions are seldom encountered, and glasses have therefore long been regarded as mixtures of silicates. The inapplicability of crystallographic or melting point data, of determining molecular weights by solution methods, or of studying chemical reactions to throw light on the constitution of glasses has narrowed investigation down, in the main, to relating the composition of glasses with their resistance to chemical reagents.

William Learmonth Baillie