Latest Approach To Bubbling

Stuart Hakes, from FIC (UK) Ltd, is prejudiced against the use of bubblers in most glass furnaces. However, he recognises there is a case for the use of bubblers in difficult glasses such as "E" glassfibre, where high levels of foam are generated. Bubbling under these circumstances exposes a clear glass surface area, which facilitates among other benefits heat transfer to the glass. While recognising that there is a case to be made for the use of bubblers to hold back the batch scum and/or batch line, this is really an excuse for poor establishment of the correct thermal regime in the furnace, mainly the thermal barrier.