Effect of bubbles on the characterisation of striae in glasses

Chemical striae are a major component of the inhomogeneities present in a wide variety of natural and man-made glasses and are often the source of the poor quality of glass products. To detect and quantify the extent of striae in glasses, an image processing method has recently been established. However, when applying this method, it is found that the presence of bubbles (gas inclusions) results in systematic overestimation of the intensity and size of the striae. To solve this problem, a new technique for image processing is proposed, which allows for an accurate quantification of striae in glasses. Such quantification is also crucial for glass scientists and industry to analyse the origin of inhomogeneities in glasses.