The main difference between a glass of soda lime and a glass of borosilicate is that a glass of soda-lime does not contain boron-derived components while a glass of borosilicate contains boron trioxide as the main constituent of glass. Due to its chemical composition, borosilicate glass is more heat resistant than soda-lime glass, which has a lower temperature resistance.
Glass is a strong amorphous (non-crystalline) that we use in our daily lives. It is solid transparent and contains mainly silica. The oldest version is silicate glass. It contains silicon dioxide as a major component. People have now found many kinds of an advanced glass of demanding applications. A glass of soda lime and a glass of borosilicate are two such types.
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What is Soda Lime Glass?
Soda-lime glass is a common glass form containing silicon dioxide. This form of glass is inexpensive and chemically stable. In addition, it has great difficulty with overwork. More importantly, we can also soften and melt this glass a few times by reusing the glass. Therefore, we can use it many times.
The materials we can use to make this glass are sodium carbonate, lime, dolomite, silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide, etc. In the manufacturing process, we can use raw materials in the glass oven. The furnace should be at a temperature of about 1675 ° C. The type of immature material we use has a profound effect on the colour of the glass. For example, we can get green and brown bottles using raw materials, which contain iron oxide.
Difference Between Soda Lime Glass and Borosilicate Glass Fig 01Figure 01: Soda Lime Glass Container
When you consider the chemical and physical properties of soda-lime glass, it can have a continuous increase in its viscosity as the temperature decreases. In addition, glass looks easy to obtain desirable conditions where the viscosity is very high. There are two types such as container glass and flat glass according to the applications.
What is Borosilicate Glass?
Borosilicate glass is a type of glass that contains silicon dioxide and boron trioxide. These two chemical compounds act as the main building blocks of glass. The characteristic feature of this type of glass is the very low coefficient of thermal conductivity. This makes the glass resistant to heat shock. Therefore, we can use this glass to produce reagent bottles and bakeware in particular.
The materials used to make this glass are boric oxide, silica sand, soda ash, and alumina. We need to combine them with melting. There are several types of this glass depending on the raw material we use in its production; the glass of non-alkaline earth borosilicate, alkaline earth consisting of borosilicate glass, and high-grade borate borosilicate glass.
What Is the Difference Between Soda Lime Glass and Borosilicate Glass?
Soda-lime glass is the most common type of glass containing silicon dioxide while borosilicate glass is a type of glass containing silicon dioxide and boron trioxide. They differ from one another in terms of chemical composition. Thus, soda-lime lime contains mainly silica, and no compounds contain boron while borosilicate glass contains mainly silica and boron trioxide. This is the main difference between a glass of soda lime and a glass of borosilicate.
In addition, the materials we use to make a glass of soda-lime are sodium carbonate, lime, dolomite, silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide, etc. while the immature materials for producing borosilicate glass are boric oxide, silica sand, soda ash, and alumina. . Another important difference between a glass of soda lime and a glass of borosilicate is its heat resistance. The thermal resistance of soda lime is low compared to borosilicate glass, with a very low coefficient of thermal expansion; therefore, it resists heat shock. Therefore, heat resistance determines the use of each type of glass.
Summary – Glass of Soda Lime vs Borosilicate Glass
Glass is very useful for us in our home and laboratory as well as industrial applications. Soda-lime and borosilicate glass are two types of glass. The main difference between a glass of soda lime and a glass of borosilicate is that a glass of soda-lime does not contain boron-derived components while a glass of borosilicate contains boron trioxide as the main constituent of glass.
