Is it possible to create glass tiles from crushed glass softdrink bottles? If so, what process is used?
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Answers:
not a DIY project
It is possible, but not easy or cost effective. You would need some tipe of blast furnace to heat the crushed glass to 2000+ degrees, a crucible to melt the glass in, and a mold or press to make the sheet.
I have done a similar project and maybe this is what you want. I created stepping stones for my garden by using broken pieces of glass bottles glued to a concrete stepping stone and mortared between the cracks. I have also used glass in Mosaic tile projects. I currently have a project in the works where the sea in my mosaic will be different shades of blue glass. It's really a straightforward process. Break the glass into 1in pieces, spread a mastic type glue on the surface (I prefer vinyl adhesive), stick the pieces on, grout in between the tiles, sponge off excess. You can get really creative or keep it simple.
You can try and melt the crushed glass to form a tile but this will take a lot of heat. Maybe if you form a heatproof mould and fill it with crushed glass you could get the surface to fuse with a hot flame torch but it depends on the glass bottles as to how easily they will fuse. You could also make a sort of glass tile by filling a mould with crushed glass and pouring a plastic resin such as epoxy or polyester (with appropriate hardener added first) so the glass ends up set in a resin block. Whatever you do I would take special care to get the glass into small particles so they are no longer sharp and it may be necessary to tumble them in a ball mill or stone mill to achieve this
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