If you are working with glass melting or fusing, you need to have a basic understanding of compatibility.This is not a technical discussion, but more of an overview.
Glass Compatibility: Glass shrinks as it is cooled, and expands as it is heated. The rate at which this occurs is called the coefficient of expansion (COE). If two glasses have different COEs, they are said to be incompatible, and cannot be fused together. Any bead or other piece made of incompatible glasses will crack. This makes sense since the two types of glass are cooling or heating at different rates making them more susceptible to cracking.
Some common glasses and their COEs are listed below. The lower the COE, the stiffer and more resilient the glass.
- Moretti/Effetre COE 104
- Vetrofond COE 104
- Lauscha COE 104
- Creation is Messy (CIM) COE 104, also comes in a limited line of COE 96
- Precision 104 COE 104
- Trautman (TAG) Produces both COE 104 and COE 33 glass
- Double Helix COE 104
- Kugler Produces COE 104 and COE 96
- Reichenbach Produces both COE 96 and COE 104. They are not compatible with each other.
- Bullseye COE 90 (not compatible with COE 104 or COE 96)
- Spectrum COE 96 (not compatible with COE 104 or COE 90)
- Uroboros: Produces both COE 96 and COE 90 glass. Neither is compatible with COE 104.
Hard Glass
These glasses are all compatible with one another:
- Northstar-Precision COE 33
- Glass Alchemy COE 33
- Borostix COE 33
- Pyrex COE 33
- Glasstronics COE 33
- Trautman COE 33
