Penn State researchers pioneer 10x stronger alternative to conventional glass

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Researchers from Penn State have developed a new type of glass that cuts its carbon footprint in half and is far more durable. The creation, dubbed LionGlass, is named after the school's Nittany Lion mascot. The new glass eliminates the use of carbon-containing batch materials, said John Mauro, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State and lead researcher on the project.

LionGlass also has a melting temperature that is about 300 to 400 degrees Celsius lower than conventional soda lime silicate glass, meaning far less energy is required to heat furnaces to melt it. According to Mauro, the lower melting point reduces energy consumption by nearly 30 percent which in turn significantly cuts CO2 emissions. It could also extend the lifetime of manufacturing furnaces.

Mauro knows a thing or two about glass. During his time at Corning, he helped invent / co-invent several types of commercial glass including Gorilla Glass products used in most modern mobile devices.

Penn State's LionGlass is also much stronger than traditional glass. In testing, some compositions would not crack even under the maximum load possible by their indention equipment (a one kilogram-force load from a Vickers diamond indenter). For comparison, standard soda lime glass cracks under a load of around 0.1 kilograms force.

"We kept increasing the weight on LionGlass until we reached the maximum load the equipment will allow," said Nick Clark, a postdoctoral fellow in Mauro's lab. "It simply would not crack."

Glass that is less susceptible to cracking could be beneficial across a range of applications including in the automotive, health care, architecture, electronics, and communications industries. LionGlass could also allow manufacturers to reduce the thickness of glass, resulting in lighter-weight products with similar levels of damage resistance or similarly thick products with much more durability.

The researchers have already filed a patent for their creation as a first step to commercial availability, and are now in the process of exposing different compositions to various chemicals to see how the glass reacts. Results from these tests will help the team better understand how LionGlass could be used in the real world.

Image credit: Tom Van Dyck

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https://www.techspot.com/news/99311-penn-state-researchers-pioneer-10x-stronger-alternative-conventional.html

 

[m4a4]

What are the downsides though? It seems too perfect with this article....

As for automotive use, is it better or worse with single-point stress? You don't actually want indestructible glass when it comes down to making an exit during an emergency lol

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What are the downsides though? It seems too perfect with this article....

As for automotive use, is it better or worse with single-point stress? You don't actually want indestructible glass when it comes down to making an exit during an emergency lol

Based on their testing it seems single point stress is a LOT better. The diamond indenter has a tip on it.

I think for automotive the move would be far thinner glass that has the same strength as current glass. Windows are heavy. A 200 lbs weight reduction could make a significant difference for city MPG.

 

[m4a4]

Based on their testing it seems single point stress is a LOT better. The diamond indenter has a tip on it.

I think for automotive the move would be far thinner glass that has the same strength as current glass. Windows are heavy. A 200 lbs weight reduction could make a significant difference for city MPG.

Oooooh ok. I guess I assumed that it wasn't as narrow a point as I was thinking of (was thinking about how you could shatter a car window with a sharp point of ceramic from a spark plug).

Yeah, that could be a problem in certain safety applications if they can't get that just right lol

 

[kiwigraeme]

What are the downsides though? It seems too perfect with this article....

As for automotive use, is it better or worse with single-point stress? You don't actually want indestructible glass when it comes down to making an exit during an emergency lol

Find of needs an indepth article - many times of stress , aging from UV etc.
Given that - as stated the institution and people involved have pedigree - if there was an inherent flaw - They have no need to make a foolish statement - Lots of things test amazingly well in one thing - but are useless overall .
Maybe would be good to see one of those amoeba like looking graphs = not sure what they are called - crossed with a spiderweb - one all the types of glass showing their strengths and weaknesses

 

[Mr Majestyk]

All the scientists here telling the researchers what they MUST do. Hilarious that armchair critics think these issues aren't a core part of their research.

For the record this is in early development and Penn State is already talking to commercial partners for full field testing. Given the commercial sensitivity of this they have not published a paper yet, which is very common in commerical applications. They often come out after the products. However a patent was filed in 2022. It will be years before we see commerical products pending the outcomes of testing.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

So for those of us that don't believe in Climate Change, how is this better for the environment?

 

[DonquixoteIII]

So for those of us that don't believe in Climate Change, how is this better for the environment?

The only thing harmful to the Earth's environment is people. Do away with them, the world will be just fine, thankyouverymuch.

 

[matthisd]

So for those of us that don't believe in Climate Change, how is this better for the environment?

Reducing the need for heat will reduce the amount of other dangerous chemicals entering the environment that can affect human health, not to mention the same potential on the side of not needing to replace furnaces as often. And cheaper products when using less energy and less materials.

But also, climate change definitely is happening, is definitely caused by humans, and can only be solved by us.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

All the scientists here telling the researchers what they MUST do. Hilarious that armchair critics think these issues aren't a core part of their research.

Literally nobody here did that, what level of projection are you on?

 

[wiyosaya]

I wonder why they did not call it "Transparent Aluminum?" Oh, that's been used in popular culture.

I, for one, would like to know more about the chemical and mechanical structure of the material, I.e., is it amorphous like glass or is it crystalline like diamond, ruby, etc. However, if they have not published yet, they are obviously not ready to release those kinds of details. I imagine that if/when they get their patent, they will release more details. If they were to publish those details before obtaining a patent, I am sure other companies would try to patent it first.

And just because their equipment was unable to crack it does not mean it cannot be cracked. Other equipment with higher limits might be able to crack it. There are materials harder than diamond, such as Hexagonal boron-nitride, so there may be other equipment that is able to crack it that is based on harder materials and/or higher limits.

What are the downsides though? It seems too perfect with this article....

As for automotive use, is it better or worse with single-point stress? You don't actually want indestructible glass when it comes down to making an exit during an emergency lol

The questions you ask are being researched by them and their partners. We will have to wait and see what their research reveals.

 

[PEnnn]

All the scientists here telling the researchers what they MUST do. Hilarious that armchair critics think these issues aren't a core part of their research.

For the record this is in early development and Penn State is already talking to commercial partners for full field testing. Given the commercial sensitivity of this they have not published a paper yet, which is very common in commerical applications. They often come out after the products. However a patent was filed in 2022. It will be years before we see commerical products pending the outcomes of testing.

There is a plague of armchair experts (and armchair scientists, military commanders, etc).

It's literally pathetic reading any forum these days without some "expert" weighing in with their totally ludicrous advice on how things should be done, manufactured, or how a war should be fought, or the the bad effects of anything if it doesn't fit their anti-science agenda.

Truly pathetic.

 

[wiyosaya]

There is a plague of armchair experts (and armchair scientists, military commanders, etc).

It's literally pathetic reading any forum these days without some "expert" weighing in with their totally ludicrous advice on how things should be done, manufactured, or how a war should be fought, or the the bad effects of anything if it doesn't fit their anti-science agenda.

And such answers seem firmly rooted in lack of knowledge, and/or knee-jerk reactions. I've seen a few examples of the latter, recently, on tech-spot in other threads.

Truly pathetic.

Agreed. I try to make efforts to point things out that educate those who post such responses. With any luck that will lead to less posts of a similar nature.

 

[mbk34]

I suspect plain vanilla glass is 10x stronger than whatever they put in iphones.

 

[ZedRM]

As for automotive use, is it better or worse with single-point stress? You don't actually want indestructible glass when it comes down to making an exit during an emergency lol

For passenger door windows, no. For windscreen and rear windows? Heck YES! For those windows we want the strongest window material possible! Common sense.

 

[m4a4]

For passenger door windows, no. For windscreen and rear windows? Heck YES! For those windows we want the strongest window material possible! Common sense.

Yes and no. You don't want objects to be able to break through and send shards of glass at you (which is why it cars have laminated glass for the windshield), but it's still breakable to a degree.

Actually, I forgot about break-ins. Maybe some people do also want something like this for passenger windows

 

[Sleuth]

In a nutshell: Researchers from Penn State have developed a new type of glass that cuts its carbon footprint in half and is far more durable. The creation, dubbed LionGlass, is named after the school's Nittany Lion mascot. The new glass eliminates the use of carbon-containing batch materials, said John Mauro, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State and lead researcher on the project.

LionGlass also has a melting temperature that is about 300 to 400 degrees Celsius lower than conventional soda lime silicate glass, meaning far less energy is required to heat furnaces to melt it. According to Mauro, the lower melting point reduces energy consumption by nearly 30 percent which in turn significantly cuts CO2 emissions. It could also extend the lifetime of manufacturing furnaces.

Mauro knows a thing or two about glass. During his time at Corning, he helped invent / co-invent several types of commercial glass including Gorilla Glass products used in most modern mobile devices.

Penn State's LionGlass is also much stronger than traditional glass. In testing, some compositions would not crack even under the maximum load possible by their indention equipment (a one kilogram-force load from a Vickers diamond indenter). For comparison, standard soda lime glass cracks under a load of around 0.1 kilograms force.

"We kept increasing the weight on LionGlass until we reached the maximum load the equipment will allow," said Nick Clark, a postdoctoral fellow in Mauro's lab. "It simply would not crack."

Glass that is less susceptible to cracking could be beneficial across a range of applications including in the automotive, health care, architecture, electronics, and communications industries. LionGlass could also allow manufacturers to reduce the thickness of glass, resulting in lighter-weight products with similar levels of damage resistance or similarly thick products with much more durability.

The researchers have already filed a patent for their creation as a first step to commercial availability, and are now in the process of exposing different compositions to various chemicals to see how the glass reacts. Results from these tests will help the team better understand how LionGlass could be used in the real world.

Image credit: Tom Van Dyck

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/99311-penn-state-researchers-pioneer-10x-stronger-alternative-conventional.html

At last a truly unbreakable glass for construction of mobile phones. Would probably make a drop test of 2m+ atcheavable.
So many uses possible, computer screens, mobiles, household windows, safety glass in doors, the list would grow by the day.

 

[ZedRM]

Yes and no. You don't want objects to be able to break through and send shards of glass at you (which is why it cars have laminated glass for the windshield), but it's still breakable to a degree.

And it still would be laminated. There would be no need to remove a needed safety feature. I'm just saying that improving the glass would be a big win!

Actually, I forgot about break-ins. Maybe some people do also want something like this for passenger windows

For that reason, it would be nice.

 

[m4a4]

At last a truly unbreakable glass for construction of mobile phones. Would probably make a drop test of 2m+ atcheavable.
So many uses possible, computer screens, mobiles, household windows, safety glass in doors, the list would grow by the day.

"Unbreakable" is easy. But do you also want it to be scratch resistant?