Research on the properties and characteristics of glass that determine the serviceability of the most massive glass objects and glassware is reviewed. The theoretical assumptions, general questions concerning the strength, chemical resistance (corrosion), and spectral characteristics of glass are noted. The properties and characteristics indicated are examined for sheet glass, glass fiber, and glassware.The serviceability of glassware is characterized by a predominant indicator or group of indicators. For mass-produced articles (sheet glass, glass containers) high serviceability is achieved primarily by adequate strength, chemical stability, and the required spectral characteristic. All sheet glasses and glass containers must have adequate strength and chemical stability, while only certain types of articles require definite spectral characteristics (heat protective, heat reflecting, and other articles made of sheet glass; glass containers for medicines, wines, beer, juices, and certain other types of medical and food products; some types of glass containers must also have adequate heat resistance).In the last few years the production of glass fibers has grown intensively as a result of the expansion of applications for articles based on them. Glass fibers are most widely used in composite materials where which strength is decisive. Despite high performance in other spheres of application (electric insulation, light guides, and so forth), strength remains a very important property of glass fibers.Analysis of data obtained over a long period of time using the SkiGlass system [1] shows that investigations of operating properties and characteristics such as the CLTE, optical properties, and chemical stability, comprise a substantial fraction of all investigations performed. At the same time the number of investigations concerning strength, which is an important property, is clearly inadequate (about 1% over the period 1976 -2001). Apparently, this is because the basic results of previous investigations and commercial developments are widely known. The existing methods for increasing substantially the strength of massive glass, specifically, sheet glass, are quite time-consuming and only of limited use. In this connection, large users of commercial glass, for example, in construction, prefer using low-strength but much cheaper glass and articles based on it.The serviceability of glassware is directly related with the structure, state, and volume and surface properties of glass.General questions concerning and the serviceability of sheet glass, glass fiber, and glass containers, which comprise about 90% of everything produced by the glass industry, will be examined below.This review is based mainly on published review articles containing a substantial number of citations to original works
GENERAL STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GLASSInorganic glass, including silicate glass, exhibits characteristic structural features on different microscales [2 -4].In regions which have essentially atomic dimensions (region of short-ra...