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Researchers Have Developed a New Kind of 'Unbreakable' Glass
- andrew_ 5y agoOne step closer to the concept of "transparent aluminum" [1]. Love it when Science Fiction becomes Science. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVgRj2e5_s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVgRj2e5_s
- rincebrain 5y agoSo, funny story... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride
- xt00 5y agoI wonder how recyclable this is? If it’s actually acrylic and glass mixed together that sounds tricky to separate later.. maybe?
- T-A 5y agoAcrylic is much lighter than glass (something like 1-1.2 g/cm^3 vs 2.2-2.5) so I would expect them to separate if melted.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoSolvent separation would be possible.
- dragontamer 5y ago1. Shove it into a furnace until the glass melts. 2. This also burns off almost every other impurity (aka: the acrylic). That's the thing about glass and metals for recycling. You "recycle" them almost identically to the mining process, except its way cheaper to "mine" partially refined glass rather than throwing sand into the furnace. "Purifying" real-world sand into high-quality glass is simply going to be more difficult than using ready-made high quality glass and melting it back down: even if there are "impurities" like acrylic on it (still probably has fewer impurities as real-world sand anyway).
- code_duck 5y agoI'm not sure about the various high-tech glasses, but for artistic and industrial glass such as lead or soda lime, manufacture involves use of a large percentage of recycled glass (cullet).
- qwertox 5y ago> could be used to improve cell phone screens, among other applications in the future Acrylic is easily scratchable. Is the above quote just an assumption of the author or something which the researchers claim?
- christkv 5y agoSelf-healing acrylic material? Seems there are some promising materials there https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/226147903.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/226147903.pdf
- kps 5y agoAcrylic is a little easier to scratch than plain glass, but not much. (Polycarbonate, which might be mistaken for acrylic out in the world, is very easy to scratch.)
- detritus 5y agoI work with acrylic every day and I'm telling you - it scratches a helluva lot easier than plain glass. You can practically just show it something with a higher shore rating and it'll scratch itself... .
- silisili 5y agoIn terms of Mohs hardness, acrylic is around 3 and glass closer to 6. This means, in theory, things like a coin or razor knife could scratch acrylic, but not glass. How this hybrid behaves though, I'd have no idea.
- qwertox 5y agoOh, you're right, I thought Makrolon -- which I was using as a desk surface protector -- was acrylic but it turns out to be polycarbonate.
- rini17 5y agoIt is acrylic-glass composite, so it should be more scratch resistant than pure acrylic. And it's glass flakes so they can use hardest glass available. However scratches are only aesthetic defect and can be prevented by foldable phone case. Cracked screens are much bigger practical issue.
- HMH 5y agoThis reminds me of Superfest (German for super hard) glass [1] which was produced in East Germany. It was optimized for durability so bars, pubs, restaurants, etc. didn't need to constantly buy new drinking glasses. But sadly after reunification production ceased as capitalism has no need for drinking glasses that do not break. [1]: https://digitalcosmonaut.com/2020/superfest-ceverit-glass-ddr/ https://digitalcosmonaut.com/2020/superfest-ceverit-glass-dd...
- BostonEnginerd 5y agoThe Superfest glass process is very similar to what is used to produce Gorilla glass. The glass is heated up and submerged in or sprayed with a potassium solution. The hot glass matrix opens up enough for potassium ions to diffuse into it. When the glass cools, the potassium ions are trapped creating a lot of internal stress. This internal stress helps the glass to resist being scratched or broken —- until it fails catastrophically. :-)
- christkv 5y agoYeah I remember having one of those glasses and it literally blew up lol.
- GravitasFailure 5y agoThe strength that those stresses add is mind boggling. Smarter Every Day[0] did a video on Prince Rupert's Drops, which have similar internal stresses, and he demonstrates their strength by shooting a drop with a .22 rifle. [0]https://youtu.be/xe-f4gokRBs https://youtu.be/xe-f4gokRBs
- adriancr 5y agoThis looks like lack of product-market fit, very common with a lot of communist products. From reading article it does break, but not that easy... If they're too expensive and breaking is not really an issue/not fully solved then it's not a good fit for bars or homes. It would need to find a market that needs such properties and doesn't already have better products. I'm struggling to think of one.
- cassepipe 5y agoYay more plastic in our lives!
- myfartsarefoul 5y agoI’d rather have cheaper ALON.
- qwertyuiop_ 5y ago>“Nature is a master of design. Studying the structure of biological materials and understanding how they work offers inspiration, and sometimes blueprints, for new materials,” explains Ehrlicher.
- davzie 5y agoThe second you put it on an iPhone I'll find a way to accidentally break it.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoIt would be nice if high performance plastic composites like this were an option for mobile devices like iPads. L
- mleonhard 5y agoThe paper: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf0277 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf0277
- dfdz 5y agoI think this article is really misleading. It is the strongest glass not counting “glass” that uses ion-exchange chemical strengthening process like the “glass” on your phone screen. Practically speaking this breakthrough is irrelevant from what I can tell…