Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
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Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#2Sounds like a hybrid between glass and "transparent aluminium".
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#3Wait. A big elasticity coefficient is not the same as 'unbreakable'.
Being a mixture of silicates and alumina, I'll be very surprised if this is not fragile. There's nothing about it on the article.
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#4Sounds like a hybrid between glass and "transparent aluminium".
So... Gorilla glass?
edit: yeah...
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass
Gorilla Glass is a brand of specialized toughened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its fourth generation,[1] designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant. This type of glass is not unique to Corning; similar glasses include Asahi Glass Co. Dragontrail and Schott AG Xensation.[2][3]
The alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass [snip]
(The link is to asahi.com)
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#5Sounds like a hybrid between glass and "transparent aluminium".
Aye, that's the ticket, laddie!
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#6Is this anything like aerogel?
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#7Sounds like a hybrid between glass and "transparent aluminium".
So... Gorilla glass? edit: yeah... From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass Gorilla Glass is a brand of specialized toughened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its fourth generation,[1] designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant. This type of glass is not unique to Corning; similar glasses include Asahi Glass Co. Dragontrail and Schott AG Xensation.[2][3] The alkali-aluminosilicate she…
Gorilla glass uses a post-solidification hardening step.
The glass described in the article uses a higher aluminum content than any other mass-produced glass, to the point where any contact with a solid surface would produce alumina crystals rather than incorporate the aluminum into the glass structure.
So they levitated a glass bead with a continuous stream of air until it solidified. The bead is very strong, but they have no idea how to work the resulting glass into fibers or sheets.
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#8Is this anything like aerogel?
Aerogels aren't known for their structural strength or elasticity, but for their extreme insulative properties.
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#9This is cool regardless. But I am interested in cost and weight.
If it is too costly we might only see it used in niche applications (e.g. aircraft windows?). But even then if it weighs more than regular glass it may not even be utilised there.
I'd like to see it used on vehicle front windshields, cracks are a constant pain in the butt, and they can leave the rear window and side windows as regular glass for emergency escape (typically only the front one receives most of the debris). But it really comes back to both weight and cost again.
Re: Scientists develop 'unbreakable' glass almost as tough as steel
#10Wait. A big elasticity coefficient is not the same as 'unbreakable'. Being a mixture of silicates and alumina, I'll be very surprised if this is not fragile. There's nothing about it on the article.
Glass itself isn't always "fragile" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drop so perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised