Dishwashers are one of the worst environments for glass....The heat and humidity cycling as well as the alkaline environment all play a role. Ever notice haziness or slight iridescence on your glasses at home? Those are sure signs of damage caused by the dishwasher environment.
-- Washing Glass, Corning Museum of Glass blog (December 9, 2011)
The film is caused by the atmospheric deterioration of glass known as "crizzling" or "glass disease," in which the glass is sometimes referred to as "weeping." See the full definition of "crizzling" in the Glass Dictionary.
While all glass may experience atmospheric deterioration in poor conditions over time, some glasses are more susceptible than others, depending on their composition.
THE FIVE STAGES OF CRIZZLING
(These images were originally published on All About Glass on December 8, 2011.)
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Stage 1: Initial Stage
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Presence of alkali on the glass gives the surface a cloudy or hazy appearance. Tiny droplets or fine crystals can form if there is high (above 55%) or low (below 40%) relative humidity. Glass may feel slippery or slimy. Washing will remove alkali from the surface and the glass will look great.
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Stage 2: Incipient Crizzling
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Similar symptoms to stage one, but the haziness remains after washing. Close examination using low, raking light may reveal very fine cracks which look like tiny silvery lines or shimmering rays.
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Stage 3: Full-blown Crizzling
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Cracking has progressed, is easily visible with the naked eye, and often takes on a very uniform appearance.
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Stage 4: Advanced Crizzling
- Cracking is even deeper. Spalling may occur leading to loss of small chips or flakes from the surface.
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Stage 5: Fragmentation Stage
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The final stage is observed when the crizzling is so deep that the object cannot retain its structural integrity and separates into fragments. This may happen without any outside intervention or by impact or additional strain to the glass such as that experienced with regular handling.
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Read/Listen/Look Now
- Koob, Stephen. "Glass Conservation." Corning Museum of Glass. Streamed live on April 13, 2011. YouTube video, 00:02:28. https://youtu.be/bOD8IVBcABo.
- Koob, Stephen, Astrid van Giffen, and Lianne Uesato. "Conservation Live Stream: How to Wash Glass." Corning Museum of Glass. Streamed live on November 27, 2019. YouTube video, 00:40:52. https://youtu.be/nAfq7c-cnvU.
- van Giffen, Astrid. "Glass Corrosion: Weathering." Corning Museum of Glass (blog). September 14, 2011. https://blog.cmog.org/2011/09/14/glass-corrosion-weathering/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=glass-corrosion-weathering.
- van Giffen, Astrid. "The Osler Candelabrum and incipient crizzling." Corning Museum of Glass (blog). December 6, 2012. https://blog.cmog.org/2012/12/06/the-osler-candelabrum-and-incipient-crizzling/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-osler-candelabrum-and-incipient-crizzling.
- van Giffen, Astrid. "Washing Glass." Corning Museum of Glass (blog). December 9, 2011. https://blog.cmog.org/2011/12/09/washing-glass/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=washing-glass.
Read Later
- Arthur, Susan R. “Crizzling -- A Glass Sickness.” All About Glass 13, no. 1 (Apr. 2015): 12-14.
- Brill, Robert H. “The Use of Equilibrated Silica Gel for the Protection of Glass with Incipient Crizzling.” Journal of Glass Studies no. 20 (1978): 100-118.
- Koob, Stephen P. Conservation and Care of Glass Objects /. London: Archetype Publications in association with the Corning Museum of Glass, 2006.
- Koob, Stephen P. “Crizzling Glasses: Problems and Solutions.” Glass Technology 53, no. 5 (Oct. 2012): 225-227.
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