The formation of gold metal fibers during the production of E-glass fibers

Abstract

We first examined the relation between the solubility of gold and the reduction-oxidation (redox) condition of E-glass, but it was difficult to find a universal relation between the gold solubility and the redox of the glasses. Next, we examined in relation between the solubility of gold and the theoretical optical basicity of the glass and found that the theoretical optical basicity of the glasses was closely related to the gold solubility. We considered ways of increasing the solubility of the gold, probably through the formation of some complex with oxide ions. In the industrial process, no metal fiber was formed when glass composition of theoretical optical basicity larger than about 0.601 was spun.