The coefficient of thermal expansion varies considerably in different glasses, and we can here only state the limiting values between which these coefficients usually lie; these are 37 × 10^{ -7} as the lower, and 122 × 10^{ -7} as the upper limit. These figures express the cubical expansion of the glass per degree Centigrade, the corresponding figures for steel and brass respectively being about 360 × 10^{ -7} and 648 × 10^{ -7} respectively. It should be noted that vitreous bodies of extremely low expansibility are obtainable by the suitable choice of ingredients, but in some cases these “glasses” are white opaque bodies, and in all cases they present great difficulty in manufacture, owing to the fact that alkalies and lime must be avoided in their composition.
Quite apart from the question of thermal endurance, the expansive properties of glass are of some importance. Thus when several kinds of glass have to be united, as, for example, in the process of producing “flashed” coloured glass, it is essential that their coefficients of expansion should be as nearly as possible the same; otherwise considerable stresses will be set up when the glasses, which have been joined at a red heat, are allowed to cool. On the other hand, this mutual stressing of two glasses owing to differences in their thermal expansion has been utilised for the production of tubes and other glass objects possessing special strength. If a tube be drawn out of glass consisting of two layers, one considerably more expansible than the other, and the cooling process be rightly conducted, it is possible to produce a tube in which both the inner and outer layers of glass are under a considerable compressive stress. Not only is glass, as we have seen above, enormously stronger as against compression than it is against tension, but glass under compressive stress behaves as though it were a much tougher material, being less liable to injury by scratches or blows. Moreover, if a tube in this condition be heated and then exposed to sudden cooling, the first effect of the application of cold will be a contraction of the surface layers, resulting in a relief of the initial condition of compression. These tubes are, therefore, remarkably indifferent to sudden cooling, although they are naturally more sensitive to sudden heating. In this respect they differ entirely from ordinary glass, which is considerably more sensitive to sudden cooling than to sudden heating, particularly when the heat or cold is applied to all the surfaces of the object at the same time. The special tubes made of two layers of glass above referred to are manufactured by the Jena Glass Works for special purposes, among which boiler gauge glasses are the most important. It should be also mentioned here that the remarkable thermal endurance of vitrified silica, which can be raised to a red heat and then immersed in cold water without risk of breakage, is chiefly due to its very low coefficient of expansion.