For aluminum, you purify it, oxidize it, and then fuse it into a single crystal of corundum. A hybrid alumina-silica glass can be created. The hybrid glass ha

For aluminum, you purify it, oxidize it, and then fuse it into a single crystal of corundum. A hybrid alumina-silica glass can be created. The hybrid glass has a higher elastic modulus than other silica glass systems, and sheets of it can bend further before fractures form. This glass can be further toughened by creating it with high sodium content, then later exchanging the sodium ions with potassium ions. This type of glass is probably in your pocket right now. Doped alumina-yttria hybrids are also useful in lasers.