TechNotes 4: Heat & Glass

Overview

Because of its amorphous molecular configuration, glass reacts to heat differently than do other materials. Whereas metals heated to a specific temperature (a melting point) change from solid to liquid instantaneously, glass goes through a very gradual transformation—from a material that behaves like a solid to a material that behaves like a liquid. It is this unique characteristic of glass that allows it to be blown or to be worked in the myriad ways we call kilnforming.

TechNote 4: Heat & Glass PDF
Revised August 25, 2009.