The Effect of Homogenization Procedure on Properties and Microstructure of High Content Lead Glasses

Radiation shielding lead glasses can be used in any facility, which requires protection from radiation, for example medical centers, industrial and nuclear sites. Usually, for improvement of optical properties and homogeneity control of these glasses, homogenization process in different ways is applied. One of the important methods, which is also industrially practical for other glass systems, named fritting, is the process of melting and quenching of molten materials to form small glass particles. In the current work, the effect of homogenization on the thermal and physical properties of lead glasses is investigated. In this way, a composition of lead glass was selected. Then fritting procedure applied six times for this composition and the effect of fritting on thermal, physical, properties and homogeneity of glass were discussed. Finally, microstructural analyses of glass specimens were carried out. The results showed that the increase of the fritting period has an unwanted influence on different properties of the glass samples and this process can be used in joint with considering the other effective parameters.