Calculation of glass properties

The calculation of glass properties (glass modeling) is used to predict glass properties of interest or glass behavior under certain conditions (e.g., during production) without experimental investigation, based on past data and experience, with the intention to save time, material, financial, and environmental resources, or to gain scientific insight. It was first practised at the end of the 19th century by A. Winkelmann and O. Schott. The combination of several glass models together with other relevant functions can be used for optimization and six sigma procedures. In the form of statistical analysis glass modeling can aid with accreditation of new data, experimental procedures, and measurement institutions (glass laboratories). Historically, the calculation of glass properties is directly related to the founding of glass science. At the end of the 19th century the physicist Ernst Abbe developed equations that allow calculating the design of optimized optical microscopes in Jena, Germany, stimulated by co-operation with the optical workshop of Carl Zeiss. Before Ernst Abbe's time the building of microscopes was mainly a work of art and experienced craftsmanship, resulting in very expensive optical microscopes with variable quality. Now Ernst Abbe knew exactly how to construct an excellent microscope, but unfortunately, the required lenses and prisms with specific ratios of refractive index and dispersion did not exist. Ernst Abbe was not able to find answers to his needs from glass artists and engineers; glass making was not based on science at this time. In 1879 the young glass engineer Otto Schott sent Abbe glass samples with a special composition (lithium silicate glass) that he had prepared himself and that he hoped to show special optical properties. Following measurements by Ernst Abbe, Schott's glass samples did not have the desired properties, and they were also not as homogeneous as desired. Nevertheless, Ernst Abbe invited Otto Schott to work on the problem further and to evaluate all possible glass components systematically.