The zirconia content of some commercial glassmaking sands

JSGT 1957 V41 T086-T088

Zirconium is known to act as an opacifier in glass when present in fairly small amounts, though experience shows that the amounts contained in the usual raw materials have no significant opacifying effect. Nevertheless, an unusually high content might lead to some loss of brilliance, and a knowledge of the amount present is clearly desirable. The present work was undertaken with a view to devising a method by which zirconium contents in the range met with in glassmaking sands might be determined with reasonable accuracy.

P. Poole & H. D. Segrove