Foamed glass beads and process of making same
AssigneeRevitri, LLC
InventorsKenneth James Klann, Jason Cody Bates
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Foamed glass beads can be made from glass, a hydrated foaming agent, a hydrated binding agent, a sealing agent, a fluxing agent, and a solvent. The hydrated binding agent can hold the glass and the hydrated foaming agent in solution. The glass can be derived from glass cullet that is ground into powder. The glass powder, the hydrated foaming agent, the hydrated binding agent, the sealing agent, the fluxing agent, and the solvent can be mixed together to create a preform material that is pelletized to make preform pellets. The preform pellets can be dried and then heated to a predetermined temperature. The heating process can create the final, foamed glass beads.
Claims26
A method for manufacturing foamed glass beads, the method comprising:
- hydrating a foaming agent;
- hydrating a binding agent;
- mixing a glass powder with the hydrated foaming agent and the hydrated binding agent to create a premix, wherein the glass powder is of a predetermined mesh size;
- adding solvent to the premix and mixing to create a flowable preform mixture;
- mixing a sealing agent into the flowable preform mixture, wherein the sealing agent dissolves and mixes between particles;
- mixing a fluxing agent into the flowable preform mixture to create a pre-foamed bead paste;
- pelletizing the pre-foamed bead paste to make preform pellets;
- heating the preform pellets until particles of the glass powder from the preform pellets are sintered together and the preform pellets become molten beads;
- and
- removing the molten beads from the heat to cool them into foamed glass beads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.