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Borosilicate Glass

bor-oh-SIL-ih-kate
Also Known As Pyrex
Materials Engineering

Borosilicate glass is a type of glass in which boron trioxide joins silica as a main glass-forming ingredient, giving it a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than ordinary soda-lime glass and letting it survive sudden temperature swings without cracking. German glassmaker Otto Schott developed it in Jena in the late nineteenth century, and Corning's Pyrex brand later carried it into American kitchens and laboratories. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Disputed
Origin Year
1893 1
Sources place Otto Schott's development in Jena in the late nineteenth century; this Wikipedia source does not state an exact year.
Primary Use
Laboratory reagent bottles and flasks, cookware, and lighting and electronics components that must tolerate thermal shock. 1
Classification
Material Class
Ceramic 1
Connections

Associated With

Annealing, Methods
Glass, Materials
Glass, Materials

Borosilicate glass is a type of glass

Reflecting Telescope, Inventions

Borosilicate glass, whose low thermal expansion keeps a figure stable, was used for large reflecting-telescope mirror blanks such as the Pyrex mirror of the 200-inch Hale telescope.

In Field

Sources
1. Borosilicate Glass (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    After Corning Glass Works introduced Pyrex in 1915, the name became synonymous with borosilicate glass in the English-speaking world.
  • Uses section
    It is commonly used for the construction of reagent bottles and flasks, as well as lighting, electronics, and cookware.
  • material-class sentence
    Borosilicate glass is a type of glass in which boron trioxide joins silica as a main glass-forming ingredient, giving it a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than ordinary soda-lime glass and letting it survive sudden temperature swings without cracking.
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