A large amount of waste glass is produced every day in our daily life and the degradation rate of glass is very slow. It takes at least a thousand years to decompose. Fortunately, the waste glass can be recycled and reused. Glass is very brittle and is easily broken. From its nature and appearance, it is very difficult for us to associate glass with cotton. But glass can indeed be turned into cotton. Glass cotton is very soft and it can be made into various products that can be used in various industrial fields.

How to make it into glass cotton from recycled waste glass? First of all, the waste glass is crushed through a rotating cylinder. Different materials can be separated with a screen, then to remove the plastic or other useless object from the glass fragments. A magnet is then used to draw out the metal. There are still paper labels which are adhered to the glass fragments. Put the glass fragments into the fluidized bed. When the certain temperature is reached, the glue on the paper label will automatically fall off. After removing the paper label, the glass fragments become very clean. At the high temperature of 1500 degrees C, the glass fragments are melted into liquid. By centrifugal force, glass cotton has been made out.

Glass cotton looks like our daily life cotton that is filled into our quilt, but it is different from the cotton that we use in our life every day. Our daily life cotton is a plant and it is an organic substance. However the glass cotton is an inorganic material and its main chemical component is silicon dioxide. It can be used in various industrial fields. Glass cotton is also called glass fiber, which can be made into glass wool blanket, glass wool board and glass wool pipe. Glass wool is a kind of superior building insulation material. Glass wool has a large number of tiny pores which enable it to possess excellent thermal insulation and sound absorption properties. Glass fiber can be made into a series of products, such as glass fiber mat, glass fiber cloth, glass fibre tape, glass fiber rope and so on. Fibreglass mat and fiberglass woven roving are materials used to make fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP). They can make fiberglass pipes, tanks and various parts and equipments. The products made from fiberglass reinforced plastic are light in weight, corrosion-resistant and extremely strong. They are even stronger than the steel products. Fiberglass cloth, rope, tape are fiberglass textiles. They are excellent heat resistant material and can be used as industrial thermal insulation materials, such as wrapping or covering materials for hot pipes, equipment, etc. Fiberglass Cloth can be made into welding blankets, fireproof curtains, fireproof clothing, etc.

Glass fiber is non-toxic, colorless and tasteless, but it is an inorganic material after all. It has the properties of glass. When we touch fiberglass textiles, we will feel an itch. Fibreglass textiles have small thorns. If the glass fiber thorns prick into our hands or people inhale the fiber, it will cause harm to human body, so we should wear masks, gloves and eye glasses during the production and operation.