14: Compositions and Properties of Commercial Glasses

Commercial glasses are primarily based on silica, but can include any of the other common glass formers as well. The properties of these glasses cover as wide a range as those of other major types of materials, i.e., metals or polymers. Although soda–lime–silica glasses provide the bulk of commercial glasses by weight, the economic value of other, more specialized commercial glasses is comparable to that of the generic soda–lime–silica products.