It’s not really paint I don’t think. It doesn’t seem like it will ever come off. I see it on a lot of glassware; flasks, test tubes, beakers. Its the white area that you can write on. What’s it made of and how do they get it to stick so well to the glass?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, but from my college chem lab days I seem to remember that something wasn’t attached to the glass, but the glass was etched in a way that produced a writable surface on the glass itself.
It sort of looks like it’s etched, but it’s definitely something attached to the glass, as it comes off if you use a nasty enough acid cleaner, leaving a smooth surface. No clue what it’s made of though.
Definitely etched. I’m not sure of the process, but I would guess they use hydrofluoric acid. Don’t try this at home, seriously.
Let me ammend that - I just checked some newer glassware, and the new stuff does seem to be etched. My older glassware is not etched, as I’ve had graduations come off using sulfuric/chromic acid cleaning solution.
Some of them are just etched, and some of them have actual raised white…I dunno, enamel, maybe? This beaker, for instance.
Tagging onto this thread – without that enamel stuff, how does one write things on glass without having it come off in thirty seconds with friction?
What kind of pen should I be looking for?
This is a problem since I have bunches of little glass bottles that need to be labelled, and writing out even tinier paper labels is a pita.