Glass & glass fibre
The glass sector is an area with strong and increasing demand for PGMs, especially for glass fibre and display glass production, an area of considerable growth e.g. in China. Platinum and rhodium are used in the fabrication of vessels that hold, channel and form the high-quality molten glass that is used, for example, for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) and plasma screens. With their unique properties, they can withstand the harsh conditions under which the raw materials for the glass are melted, including the heat of usually 1650 degrees Celsius.
Unlike base metal alloys, platinum and platinum alloys do not react to glass, nor do they oxidize or scale at high temperatures, thereby maintaining the purity of the glass.
Rhodium is alloyed with platinum in various proportions from 5% rhodium up to 30% rhodium. The addition of rhodium increases the strength of platinum alloy equipment and extends its life.
The versatility of glass fibre finds its use in a range of applications.
These are just a few of its uses:
- as a reinforcer for plastic and concrete.
- in insulation for buildings.
- in the hulls of ships, fuselages of aircraft, and walls of petrol tankers,
- and in everyday products such as ladders and fishing rods.
Glass fibre optics is used in telecommunications applications where they have greater capacity, transmission speed and efficiency and are cheaper to maintain than other cables.
It is produced in crucibles made of PGMs and their alloys which are resistant to the high temperature and corrosiveness of molten glass.
