Field Trip: Float Glass Plant

Guardian Industries
Corsicana, TX

Float glass manufacturing is the method of glass production used to produce all commercial sheet glass today. Developed in the 1950s, float glass is made by floating molten glass (made of sand, soda ash, and other minerals or colorants) on a bed of molten metal (often tin). The glass is immiscible with the metal, floating on top of its surface to form a flat, uniform ribbon that is gradually cooled into a sheet of glass. Guardian Industries is one of the largest producers of float glass in the world.