Process for the manufacture of a material on the basis of calcium- and/or magnesium carbonate having a reduced decrepitation tendency, wherein a material on the basis of calcium- and/or magnesium carbonate is treated with at least one additive selected among alkali metal compounds and/or acids and/or alkaline earth metal compounds in an amount of 0.05 to 5 wt. % based on the amount of the material on the basis of calcium- and/or magnesium carbonate. Also claimed are the material obtainable by the process and showing reduced decripitation tendency and the use of such material in the manufacture of glass.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of expanded microspheres, comprises mixing a plurality of solid particles, at least one binding material capable of binding the plurality of solid particles, and a plurality of reactive expansion components into a batch, forming a plurality of agglomerated particles from the batch, heating the plurality of agglomerated particles in an expansion equipment to above a softening temperature of at least a portion of the plurality of agglomerated particles and activating the plurality of reactive expansion components, and forming a gas and expanding the plurality of agglomerated particles into the plurality of expanded microspheres, the step of activating the plurality of reactive expansion components occurring independently from a chemical composition of an atmosphere surrounding the plurality of agglomerated particles inside the expansion equipment.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of expanded microspheres, comprises mixing a plurality of solid particles, at least one binding material capable of binding the plurality of solid particles, and a plurality of reactive expansion components into a batch, forming a plurality of agglomerated particles from the batch, heating the plurality of agglomerated particles in an expansion equipment to above a softening temperature of at least a portion of the plurality of agglomerated particles and activating the plurality of reactive expansion components, and forming a gas and expanding the plurality of agglomerated particles into the plurality of expanded microspheres, the step of activating the plurality of reactive expansion components occurring independently from a chemical composition of an atmosphere surrounding the plurality of agglomerated particles inside the expansion equipment.

The present invention relates to pellets for use in the manufacture of glass.

In order to generate no harmful gas during pouring and reduce a gas defect as one cast metal defect in the manufacture of a three-dimensional lamination-shaped mold, this invention provides a granular material for use in shaping a three-dimensional lamination mold, the granular material being coated with water glass which is activated and cured by a water-soluble ester. The residual water content in the granular material is 1% or less. The water glass is one of a sodium silicate solution, a potassium silicate solution, as alkali metal silicate solutions and a mixture thereof.

In order to well perform recoating regardless of the type of granular material and reuse a refractory aggregate in an unprinted portion without any regeneration process in the manufacture of a three-dimensional lamination-shaped mold, this invention provides a granular material for use in shaping a three-dimensional laminated mold, which is coated with an acid as a catalyst which activates and cures an organic binder for binding the granular material. The acid contains at least one of sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, a sulfonic acid and a carboxylic acid, and is one of a mixture of sulfuric acid and another acid, phosphoric acid only, a mixture of phosphoric acid and another acid, sulfonic acid only, a mixture of sulfonic acid and another acid and a mixture of a carboxylic acid and another acid.

The present invention relates to a glass frit including: lithium (Li); an element M; phosphorus (P); oxygen (O); and at least one element of boron (B) and silicon (Si), in which the element M includes at least one element selected from the group composed of zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf), tin (Sn), samarium (Sm), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), and molybdenum (Mo), and the glass frit contains a seed crystal.

Methods of forming a glass-ceramic article, the method are provided. Embodiments of the method may include initially nucleating a precursor glass composition at a first nucleation temperature and maintaining the first nucleation temperature for a pre-nucleating time period to produce a pre-nucleated crystallizable glass composition, wherein the pre-nucleated crystallizable glass composition comprises 5 wt % to 20 wt % crystalline phase ASTM C1365-18, forming the pre-nucleated crystallizable glass composition into an initial 3D shape; further nucleating the initial 3D shape for a nucleating time period to a second nucleation temperature to produce a nucleated crystallizable glass composition; and ceramming the nucleated crystallizable glass composition to a crystallization temperature and maintaining the ceramming temperature for a crystallization time period to produce the glass-ceramic article. The glass-ceramic article may have a final 3D shape is within 0.1 mm of the original design specifications.

A method for forming a glass frit for additive manufacturing includes providing a mixture having at least one silicon (Si) compound, at least one calcium (Ca) compound, and at least one zirconium (Zr) compound; melting the mixture at a temperature of at least 1400 C.; cooling the mixture to room temperature to obtain the glass frit including at least 50 wt. % SiO.sub.2, at least 30 wt. % CaO, and at least 10 wt. % ZrO.sub.2.

A bulk material handling system includes a majors material handling system including bulk material storage modules and bulk material dispensing modules. The dispensing modules include bulk material dosing assemblies and docking assemblies. A bulk material handling method includes conveying bulk material from a mobile bulk material container into a stationary bulk material container at a glass manufacturing facility via dense phase pneumatic conveying.