Address:
Glafo, Box 5157,
SE-350 05 Växjö
SWEDEN

Visitor's address:
Vejdes plats 3

Tel: +46 10 516 63 50
E-mail: info@glafo.se

You find a map at the
"about Glafo" page.

COLOURED OPAL GLASS (PR184) - finished in 1999

Opal glass is not homogeneous as it contains two different phases. Most common is to have a crystalline phase distributed more or less even in the glass phase. Light is diffracted and the glass becomes opaque, usually it looks white. Fluorine opal glass used to dominate the market but due to environmental superiority phosphate opal glass is becoming more and more common.

Colour display of phosphate opal glass
The goal for this project is to increase the understanding of the physical properties of the phosphate opal glass. We should also try colouration. To get some colouring effect in an opal glass it can not be too opaque. A less opaque or opalescent glass with fewer crystals is preferable.

How many crystals are formed and thus how opaque the glass becomes depends on how the glass is treated. Here is an example. These glasses are from the same batch but were treated differently and thus show different degrees of opaqueness.

The heat treatment affects how opaque the glass will be as shown in this example.

CURRENT PROJECTS