Using Physical Properties of Molten Glass to Estimate Glass Composition

A vitrification process is under development in KEPRI for the treatment of low-and medium-level radioactive waste. Although the project is for developing and building Vitrification Pilot Plant in Korea, one of KEPRI's concerns is the quality control of the vitrified glass. This paper discusses a methodology for the estimation of glass composition by on-line measurement of molten glass properties, which could be applied to the plant for real-time quality control of the glass product. By remotely measuring viscosity and density of the molten glass, the glass characteristics such as composition can be estimated and eventually controlled. For this purpose, using the database of glass composition vs. physical properties in isothermal three-component system of SiO$_2$-Na$_2$O-B$_2$O$_3$, a software TERNARY has been developed which determines the glass composition by using two known physical properties(e.g. density and viscosity).