The float process for making flat glass was invented by Alistair Pilkington. This process allows the manufacture of clear, tinted and coated glass for buildings, and clear and tinted glass for vehicles. Pilkington had been experimenting with improving the melting process, and in 1952 he had the idea of using a bed of molten metal to form the flat glass, eliminating altogether the need for rollers within the float bath. The metal had to melt at a temperature less than the hardening point of glass (about 600~C), but could not boil at a temperature below the temperature of the molten glass (about 1500~C). The best metal for the job was tin.
The rest of the concept relied on gravity, which guaranteed that the surface of the molten metal was perfectly flat and horizontal. Consequently, when pouring molten glass onto the molten tin, the underside of the glass would also be perfectly flat. If the glass were kept hot enough, it would flow over the molten tin until the top surface was also flat, horizontal and perfectly parallel to the bottom surface. Once the glass cooled to 604~C or less it was too hard to mark and could be transported out of the cooling zone by rollers~, The glass settled to a thickness of six millimetres because of surface tension interactions between the glass and the tin. By fortunate coincidence, 60 per cent of the flat glass market at that time was for sixmillimetre glass.
Pilkington built a pilot plant in 1953 and by 1955 he had convinced his company to build a full-scale plant. However, it took 14 months of non-stop production, costing the company £100, 000 a month, before the plant produced any usable glass. Furthermore, once they succeeded in making marketable flat glass, the machine was turned off for a service to prepare it for years of continuous production. When it started up again it took another four months to get the process right again. They finally succeeded in 1959 and there are now float plants all over the world, with each able to produce around 1000 tons of glass every day, non-stop for around 15 years.
团友~ 你玩机翻啊?!
这是雅思的阅读题,我自己就能翻,没那么高深,只是为了不闭门造车,希望有个佐证而已
追答那我就试试吧,权当互相学习。
平板玻璃的浮法生产工艺是由阿里斯代尔·皮尔金顿发明的。通过这种生产工艺可以生产出适用于建筑行业的高透光率、掺色的涂层玻璃,以及适用于汽车的高透光率掺色玻璃。皮尔金顿一直在试验改进传统的熔融生产工艺,1952年他有了一个想法:何不借助(密度比玻璃大的)液态金属形成完美的基床、从而制造出平板玻璃?这样就再也不需要在熔融槽内再使用轧辊来成形了。(要选择的)金属必须具有高于玻璃硬化温度(约600摄氏度)的熔点,但是沸点又不得高于熔融玻璃的温度(约1500摄氏度)。(符合以上条件)最适合的金属是锡。
这种方法完全依赖于重力的作用,(通过重力)确保液态金属的表面是绝对光滑、绝对水平的。因此,当把液态玻璃倒入液态锡时,液态玻璃的下表面必然会形成完美的平面。假如液态玻璃的温度维持足够高,那么就会在液态锡的表面流动,直到其上表面也是光滑、水平的并且与下表面完美平行。当玻璃冷却到604摄氏度以下时,其硬度就足够、不会再变形了,此时可以通过传送辊传送到冷却区。由于玻璃和锡之间存在表面张力作用,因此(按这种方法生产出的)玻璃厚度为6厘米。不过幸运的是,当时市场上60%的平板玻璃本来就是6厘米厚的!!!
皮尔金顿于1953年创立了一个试产车间,到了1955年他说服了自己的公司修建了一个完整规格的工厂。不过,工厂经过连续14个月不间断的生产、每月耗费公司10万镑,才最终能够生产出满足使用要求的玻璃。此外,当工厂成功生产出商业级的平板玻璃后,就暂时关闭机器进行维修保养,准备接下来长年累月的连续生产。当产线再次开动之后,又花了4个月的时间重新调整各项工序参数和工序指标。他们最终于1959年成功开始量产,时至今日,全世界遍布着浮法玻璃生产厂,每个生产厂每天能生产约1000吨玻璃,并且能连续不断地工作15年。
翻译的好啊~。。。。。就我这水平现在才翻到第二段。。。。。马上11月中要考试了,估计是完犊子了喂。。。。。
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