Glass Ceramics Market

The global glass ceramics market is projected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period, 2019–2028. The primary factor driving the growth of the global glass-ceramics market is the increasing demand in the construction industry for manufacturing pavements, tiles, tabletops, and countertops. Likewise, the increasing application of the product in the manufacturing of household utensils is also expected to support global market growth. However, the high cost of energy due to the high heating requirements during the glass-ceramics manufacturing process may restrain the growth of the global glass-ceramics market during the forecast period. Nevertheless, ongoing research & development and clinical trials are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the manufacturers of glass-ceramics.

Glass-ceramics are nowadays increasingly used in the manufacturing of household utensils such as cooktops, stoves, microwave and fireplace doors, cookware, and bakeware, among others. The properties of glass-ceramics such as high mechanical strength, sustainability in changing temperatures, low heat conduction coefficient (stays cool outside the cooking area), and excellent aesthetic appeal have increased their application in the household utensils segment. Some of the renowned brands of glass-ceramics are Pyroceram (cookware), Ceran (cooktops), Eurokera (cooktops, stoves, and fireplaces), Zerodur (telescope mirrors), Macor (machinable glass-ceramics for industrial applications), Kanger (glass-ceramic for cooktop, stoves, microwaves, and fireplace doors), FireLite and NeoCeram (ceramic-glass for architectural and high-temperature applications), and Keralite (a specialty glass-ceramic for fire-rated applications). The increasing per-capita income, consumer purchasing power, changing lifestyles, and growing awareness are the major factors increasing the adoption of glass-ceramics-based household utensils across the globe. Thus, the increasing application of glass-ceramics in the manufacturing of utensils and their growing demand are expected to fuel the growth of the global market during the assessment period.

Glass-ceramics can be produced by various routes such as by heat treatment of solid glass (the traditional route), using silica residue for producing glass and then controlled crystallization, and sintering and crystallization of waste glass powders. These manufacturing routes are highly energy-intensive and thus expensive, which consequently increases the overall manufacturing cost.

In the first method, the glass is first manufactured by the standard glass manufacturing process, which involves heating of raw materials viz. sand, soda ash, and limestone in a melter furnace where the intense heat up to 1500°C is created to transform the raw materials into molten liquid glass. Melter furnaces mostly use fossil fuels such as oil and gas and sometimes electricity for power generation. However, there are very few electric melter furnaces used in the glass industry, and they are typically used on special glassware. Electricity is used to increase the temperature inside a furnace if the combustion of oil and gas is not hot enough to reach the desired temperature. Once the glass is manufactured, it is reheated above its glass transition temperature and cooled wherein it partly crystallizes in the interior. This requires a large amount of energy for heating and consequently a large quantity of fossil fuel.

In the second method, recycling and reuse of industrial waste containing silica residue such as coal power station ash, bottom ash, and fly ash from waste incinerators, slag from steel production, glass cullet and combustion dust, and old glass powders are used to manufacture glass. This waste silica residues are melted at high temperatures ranging from 1300°C to 1500°C to produce homogeneous glass. This also requires a large amount of fossil fuel and electricity, which increases the overall manufacturing cost.

In the third method, waste glass powder is subjected to concurrent sinter-crystallization. In this case, the glass powder is compacted by hot-pressing sintering techniques for removing the porosity, followed by crystallization, which starts at glass-particle interfaces.

Besides these factors, fluctuating crude oil prices are also a major challenge. Thus, the energy-intensive manufacturing process is expected to be the major factor hampering the growth of the global glass-ceramics market during the forecast period.