Platinum-clad Equipment for Handling Molten Glass

Under normal conditions platinum-clad molybdenum equipment used in the glass industry eventually fails because of a vapour phase reaction in which molybdenum is transferred to the platinum envelope across a partly evacuated void. In this article, based on a paper recently delivered at the joint meeting of the British Ceramic Society and the Society of Glass Technology in Sheffield in April, it is shown that metal transfer can be largely inhibited by keeping the partial pressure of oxygen in the interfacial volume at a very low level, and practical methods of achieving this objective are discussed.