A method for forming a glass stack, comprising: obtaining a glass sheet; selecting a plurality of portions of the glass sheet having a matching glass characteristic, wherein the glass characteristic is at least one of warp, bow, total thickness variation (TTV), and wedge; cutting a plurality of glass wafers from the selected portions of the glass sheet, and stacking the plurality of glass wafers to form a glass stack.

Disclosed is an apparatus for conditioning molten glass. The apparatus includes a connecting tube assembly having a conduit for conveying the molten glass, the conduit including at least two flanges and a sealing member disposed between the at least two flanges around an outer peripheral region of the flanges, thereby forming an enclosed volume between an outer wall of the conduit, the at least two flanges and the sealing member. An atmosphere within the volume may be controlled such that a predetermined partial pressure of hydrogen or a predetermined partial pressure of oxygen may be maintained within the volume. A current may be established between the at least two flanges to heat the conduit.

Apparatus and methods for processing a glass sheet can include a coating chamber including a dispensing port to dispense a coating on a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments, an apparatus can include a fog chamber including an enclosure, a fog generator to provide fog to the enclosure, and a passage in the enclosure from which fog can exit the enclosure to contact a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments a method can include providing a glass sheet to a coating chamber, and dispensing a coating on a major surface of the glass sheet. In some embodiments, a method can include providing a glass sheet to a fog chamber, providing fog to an enclosure of the fog chamber, and contacting a major surface of the glass sheet with the fog by passing the fog from the enclosure through a passage in the enclosure.

Heating devices can comprise an electrode, a bracket clamped to a rear end portion of the electrode, and a conductive panel comprising an inner face forced toward a rear face of the electrode by the bracket. In further embodiments, methods of assembling the heating device can comprise clamping the bracket to the rear end portion of the electrode and forcing the inner face of the conductive panel toward the rear face of the electrode with the bracket. In further embodiments, apparatus comprising the heating device can comprise a vessel with at least a portion of the electrode received within an opening of at least one wall. In further embodiments, methods can comprise heating molten material within a containment area of the vessel with the electrode and adjusting the position of the electrode relative to the opening of the wall.

A laminate sheet article including: a core including an electrical semi-conductor or an electrical conductor; and a continuous glass clad layer on at least four of six sides the core of the sheet article. Also disclosed is an apparatus for making a sheet laminate article as defined herein. Also disclosed is a method of making and using the article.

A control apparatus for controlling a thickness of a substrate, such as a glass ribbon. The control apparatus comprises a laser assembly and a shielding assembly. The laser assembly generates an elongated laser beam traveling in a propagation direction along an optical path. The shielding assembly comprises at least one shield selectively disposed in the optical path. The shield is configured to decrease an optical intensity of a region of the elongated laser beam. The shielding assembly is configured to change an intensity profile of the elongated laser beam from an initial intensity profile to a targeted intensity profile. A desired targeted intensity profile can be dictated by an arrangement of the shield(s) relative to the optical path, and can be selected to affect a temperature change at portions of the substrate determined to benefit from a reduction in thickness.

A method of forming a glass ribbon includes flowing a molten glass into a caster having a width (W.sub.cast) and a thickness (T.sub.cast) to form a cast glass, cooling the cast glass in the caster to a viscosity of 10.sup.8 Poise or more, conveying the cast glass from the caster, volumetrically heating the cast glass to an average viscosity of 10.sup.6 Poise or less using a gyrotron microwave heating device, and drawing the cast glass into a glass ribbon having a width (W.sub.gr) that is less than or equal to the width (W.sub.cast) of the caster and a thickness (T.sub.gr) that is less than the thickness (T.sub.cast) of the caster.

A method of forming a glass ribbon including flowing molten glass into a sheet forming device to form formed glass. The formed glass having a first portion and a second portion, the first portion having a larger thickness than the second portion. The method further includes volumetrically heating the formed glass using an electromagnetic heating device, so that the first portion has a lower average viscosity than the second portion, and drawing the formed glass into a glass ribbon, such that the first portion is drawn with a higher rate of elongation than the second portion.

A hot-formed, chemically prestressable glass article having a low percentage of crystals or crystallites, in particular a plate-shaped, chemically prestressable glass article, as well as to a method and a device for its production are provided. The glass article has a composition including the components SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and Li.sub.2O and a content of seed formers (ZrO.sub.2, SnO.sub.2, and TiO.sub.2) of at least 0.8 wt %, as well as at most ten crystals, including crystallites, per kilogram of glass, which have a maximum diameter greater than 1 m and up to at most 5 m.

A glass article is provided that has two plane-parallel main sides, a thickness between the two plane-parallel main sides of less than 3.0 mm, an average near-surface level of damage (ONSL) on each of the two plane-parallel main sides, and an average location-thickness variation (ODS) normalized with respect to the thickness on the specified measuring area. The average near-surface level of damage is less than 2000 damages with an extension of less than 1.0 m. The specified measuring area is 22 mm.sup.2. The average location-thickness variation (ODS) normalized is less than 10 nm per Rm thickness of the glass article. The average location-thickness variation (ODS) is a difference between a highest thickness and a lowest thickness within the specified measuring area.