Abstract
Quartz glass is a high-performance glass material with its high heat and chemical resistance, wide optical transparency ranging from ultraviolet light to infrared light, and the high formativeness as a glass material. Because it has high morphological stability due to its heat resistance and low thermal expansion, it is widely used as material for specialized research and development or high-precision components. There are several techniques to process quartz glass material, and an important process among them is the fire processing. The fire processing requires technology to heat and mold glass material in high temperature, and high-quality processing is done by the manual works of experts. In this study, we focused on bending work, which is the process that demands particularly high skill among the fire processing. We developed a self-learning program for beginners to improve their skill in short time by using the bending know-hows of the experts that were clarified through process analysis, product evaluation and an interview with the expert, and examined its effectiveness. As a result, a consistent educational effect was observed in the bending skill improvement of the beginner in a short period of time.
Highlights
At the bending process, a technician holds the both ends of a quartz glass tube with his both hands while heating it with the flame of a burner with rotating the tube with his fingers
In the bending work of quartz glass, we discovered our newly developed self-learning program has the potential in contributing to improve the productivity and the quality of the bending work by beginners
In the past training of the processing skill, only the video of the expert was shown to the beginners and the skill improvement after that was left to the personal effort of each beginner
Summary
A technician holds the both ends of a quartz glass tube with his both hands while heating it with the flame of a burner with rotating the tube with his fingers. In the example of a Japanese quartz glass product manufacturing company, it requires more than 20 years to for technicians to reach the same skill level as experts. Even among these experts, there are only a small number of technicians who are capable to produce a high-quality bending work. If shortening of learning period is achieved, it is expected to have a significant effect on human resources development
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