Glass Technology Services completes commissioning of new large-scale research furnace

Glass Technology Services (GTS) has successfully completed the construction and commissioning of its new large-scale research furnace at its Sheffield laboratory facility. The completion marks a major expansion of its capabilities in glass melting and materials innovation. 

GTS has been carrying out world-leading research in both mainstream and specialist glass fields for over a hundred years, but until now, glass melting trials have been limited to batches of a maximum of 2 kg per melt. 

The newly commissioned furnace increases this capacity, enabling melts of up to 50kg, providing a greater representative scale for research trials and pre-commercial development. 

The development of its High Temperature Melting Observation System (HTMOS) is a unique melting facility designed to GTS’s own specification by A.F.T (UK) with a range of bespoke components to enable better glass observation, measurement and control. 

“This investment represents a significant evolution in our research capability,” said GTS Chief Executive Gareth Jones. “By bridging the gap between small-scale laboratory melts and industrial production, we can offer our partners and clients deeper insight, greater confidence, and a faster route to innovation.”

GTS’s larger melting capacity will alongside existing melting capabilities enabling staged glass trials to validate findings from small-scale melts. The furnace is equipped with an expanded suite of analytical tools that transform GTS’s ability to observe and quantify melting behaviour:

• Gravimetric monitoring to track mass changes and material evolution throughout the melt. 
• In furnace camera systems to visually record melting progression and batch reactions at temperature throughout the melting cycle. 
• Offgas analysis, enabling real-time monitoring of gases released during melting and refining. 
• Sampling during melting, allowing intermediate assessment of seed, refining, and batch free times. 
• Stirring and Viscometry, in melt provision of a physical stirrer and indictive viscosity measurement as the melt progresses.

The new furnace also enables melting up to 1600°C, opening pathways for the development of new glass compositions, including advanced and high temperature formulations. 

Commenting on the new capabilities, Martyn Marshall, Melting and R&D lead said, “the new melting capabilities are a real gamer-charger for us and the companies we work with. 

“For the first time we can trial new glass formulations, recycled streams, raw materials and other innovations at a scale that genuinely reflects what happens in industry and with instrumentation that gives us a front-row seat to every reaction taking place. This means we can give customers answers backed with more data that will give them greater predictive results and confidence when moving towards full-scale production. 

“For companies pushing for sustainability, efficiency or completely new glass technologies, this furnace opens doors we simply couldn’t open before and we’re incredibly excited for future innovations to come.”

The expanded facilities strengthen GTS’s role as a leading global partner for glass R&D and advanced materials development. The facility is available for commercial projects and grant-funded partnerships.

Funding for the new furnace was obtained through a public tender contract awarded by Glass Futures as part of the Foundation Industries Sustainability Consortium (FISC) EconoMISER 2 project from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

FISC was founded in 2020 through UKRI and their Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge programme as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Designed to help energy-intensive businesses share expertise and develop radical innovations to reduce their carbon footprint. 

The programme injects significant new public and industry innovation funding into the foundation industries, helping deliver against the vision of a cutting-edge, innovative and sustainable industrial sector. The government has provided £66 million, and £83 million came from industry.

For further information or to discuss how Glass Technology Services can help please contact: salesleads@glass-ts.com.