What glass are most beakers made of?

    Glass beakers are one of the indispensable tools in the laboratory. They can not only be used to store chemical liquids but also be used directly for chemical reactions in liquids. This is because the beaker has high transparency, which makes it easy to observe chemical reactions. The beaker is also resistant to high temperatures and corrosion, so it can safely hold chemicals. So, in order to meet the above requirements and meet the different performance requirements of scientists, medical scientists and other personnel during experiments, what kind of glass materials do we generally use?
    There are usually three types of glass materials for beakers: borosilicate glass, ordinary glass and boric acid glass. Most beakers are made of borosilicate glass. This is because borosilicate materials are extremely resistant to high temperatures and have a low expansion coefficient. Even if the chemical liquid is heated in the laboratory, it is not easy to explode. It has high chemical stability and will not change due to the presence of other chemicals. Borosilicate glass is mainly composed of boron trioxide and silicon dioxide, with a boron content of 14% and a silicon content of 80%, and also includes some other impurities, such as lime and water glass sand. These special materials determine that borosilicate glass can withstand high temperature changes of 200°-300°; the thermal expansion coefficient of borosilicate glass is one-third of that of ordinary glass, which can fully withstand the possible breakage caused by chemical reactions and has high stability; in addition, borosilicate glass has high transparency and hardness, which provides convenience for observing liquid reactions.
    Ordinary glass is mainly composed of silicon dioxide and other oxides (such as sodium oxide, calcium oxide, etc.), also known as silicate glass. This glass can be added with some metal oxides or salts to show color and form colored glass, which is famous. In addition, ordinary glass is cheap and has the widest application. Ordinary glass is also relatively transparent and can be used in windows of buildings, which is transparent and light-transmitting. However, ordinary glass has low high temperature resistance and can only be used in medium and low temperature experiments.
    Borosilicate glass is composed of silicon dioxide, boric acid and sodium oxide, also known as borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass has the properties of low expansion rate and high stability, and can be used for the storage and reaction of laboratory chemicals; it is also high hardness and high temperature resistance, but its high temperature resistance is slightly lower than that of borosilicate glass, and is suitable for low and medium temperature chemical reactions. The unique advantage of borosilicate glass is that it is thin and light and easy to carry, so it is the first choice besides borosilicate glass.
    In summary, most beakers are made of borosilicate glass, which mainly depends on the performance of the glass material and laboratory safety. If you are interested in making beakers, welcome to learn about our company's beaker machine!