A study of the glass-fibre forming process by means of high-speed ciné and flash photography

JSGT 1957 V41 T276-T282

In the Owens-Corning glass-wool process, glass fibres are produced by subjecting streams of molten glass to a blast of steam. It was clear that the rate of linear output of fibre from each stream was many times the velocity of the steam, but the mechanism of fiberisation had not been definitely established. The process has been studied by flash photography using a flash of 2 µsduration, and by cine photography at 3000 frames/s. Examples of the photographs and film sequences obtained are presented. It is concluded that the mechanism is neither the formation and attenuation of drops of glass nor the division of the stream of glass by branching, but is a looping and folding of the glass stream induced by turbulent flow of the steam blast. Subsequently, threads of glass in the form of inverted U shapes are detached, and many of these are drawn simultaneously into fibre.

A. de Dani & P. E. Jellyman