Glass
Researchers establish link between mechanical, structural properties of glass
April 11, 2013 1:58 am | News | Comments
For the first time, researchers from Amsterdam University in The Netherlands and DESY in Germany have now monitored subtle structural changes in a glass made from microscopic silica spheres, which they exposed to shear stress. Using a unique experimental setup at DESY’s PETRA III X-ray source, the scientists discovered coexisting structural states in the glass and related them to its flow behavior.
“Crystal-clear” method distinguishes between glass and fluids
May 28, 2013 11:40 am | News | Comments
Many solids are produced from melting, a process that creates complex internal...
Researchers establish link between mechanical, structural properties of glass
April 11, 2013 1:58 am | News | Comments
For the first time, researchers from Amsterdam University in The Netherlands and DESY...
New experiment opens window on glasses
June 10, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsFor the first time, scientists have mapped the structure of a metallic glass on the atomic scale, bringing them closer to understanding where the liquid ends and the solid begins in glassy materials. A study led by Monash Univ. researchers has used a newly developed technique on one of the world’s highest-resolution electron microscopes to understand the structure of a zirconium-based metallic glass.
Smashing glass at the molecular level
April 15, 2013 8:05 am | News | CommentsWhether gas trapped under a frozen water layer flows through cracks or bursts out depends on the layer's depth and temperature, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The water isn't crystalline ice; it is amorphous solid water, which is disordered and often described as a "frozen" liquid.
A new understanding of metallic glass
April 3, 2013 9:00 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGelatin sets by forming a solid matrix full of random, liquid-filled pores—much like a saturated sponge. It turns out that a similar process also happens in some metallic glasses, substances whose molecular behavior has now been clarified by new Massachusetts Institute of Technology research detailing the “setting” of these metal alloys.
Scientists build a nanoscale glass blower
March 25, 2013 3:43 pm | News | CommentsUsing a principle similar to the way plastic bags shrivel and crumple in a fire, researchers at EPFL in Switzerland are using the electrical properties of a scanning electron microscope to change the size of glass capillary tubes at the nanoscale. Their method has already been patented and it could pave the way to many novel applications.
In probing mysteries of glass, researchers find a key to toughness
February 26, 2013 12:42 pm | News | CommentsGlass doesn’t have to be brittle. In a recently published paper, a Yale University team and collaborators propose a way of predicting whether a given glass will be brittle or ductile—a desirable property typically associated with metals like steel or aluminum—and assert that any glass could have either quality.
Study reveals extraordinary glass properties
January 7, 2013 7:41 am | News | CommentsArmed with a better understanding of how glasses age and evolve, researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison raise the possibility of designing a new class of materials at the molecular level via a vapor-deposition process.
A new breed of micro fuel cells
November 30, 2012 12:18 pm | News | CommentsEngineers at Yale University have developed a new breed of micro fuel cell that could serve as a long-lasting, low-cost, and eco-friendly power source for portable electronics. Major components of the new device are made of bulk metallic glasses, which can be finely shaped and molded using a comparatively efficient and inexpensive fabrication process akin to processes used in shaping plastics.
Modeling the breaking points of metallic glasses
November 26, 2012 7:44 am | News | CommentsMetallic glass alloys (or liquid metals) are three times stronger than the best industrial steel, but can be molded into complex shapes with the same ease as plastic. These materials are highly resistant to scratching, denting, shattering, and corrosion. Mathematical methods developed by a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists will help explain why liquid metals have wildly different breaking points.
Atom-scale imaging unlocks exact structure of glass
November 13, 2012 7:21 pm | News | CommentsDespite its great importance to industries like semiconductors, glass has remained something of a mystery, at least with respect to the precise position of atoms that make up its structure. Researchers in Germany have recently analyzed the atomic structure of amorphous silica, and are the first to have imaged the network of silicon and oxygen atoms—the main components of glass—in a silica film.
A new way of making glass
November 9, 2012 10:46 am | News | CommentsA new way to make glass has been discovered by a collaboration of researchers at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Bristol using a method that controls how the atoms within a substance are arranged around each other. The researchers created the new type of glass in a computer through encouraging atoms in a nickel-phosphorous alloy to form a polyhedron.
Glass, characterized with precision and efficiency
October 26, 2012 1:54 pm | News | CommentsGlass can possess a quite diverse array of characteristics, depending on what ingredients one uses to modify it. A new process developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany now makes the analysis of glass characteristics up to five times faster than previous methods, and uses only 20% of the material. This system consists of an oven and a CMOS camera that enables researchers to observe the glass during the entire heating process.
Physicists crack another piece of the glass puzzle
October 16, 2012 12:24 pm | by Carol Clark, Emory University | News | CommentsWhen it comes to physics, glass lacks transparency. No one has been able to see what’s happening at the molecular level as a super-cooled liquid approaches the glass state—until now. Emory University physicists have made a movie of particle motion during this mysterious transition.
Absorbent nanomaterial cleans up toxic water
October 15, 2012 2:14 pm | News | CommentsScience is full of surprises. College of Wooster chemist Paul Edminston's search for a new way to detect explosives at airports instead led to the creation of what's now called "Osorb," swellable, organically modified silica, or glass, capable of absorbing oil and other contaminants from water.
Ames Laboratory finds ordered atoms in metallic glasses
October 3, 2012 4:50 am | News | CommentsGlass materials may have a far less randomly arranged structure than formerly thought. Over the years, the ideas of how metallic glasses form have been evolving, from just a random packing, to very small ordered clusters, to realizing that longer range chemical and topological order exists. A team of scientists at the Ames Laboratory has been able to show for the first time there is some organization to these structures.
Double-strength glass may be within reach
September 21, 2012 4:30 am | News | CommentsGlass is strong enough for so much. But scientists who look at the structure of glass strictly by the numbers believe some of the latest methods from the microelectronics and nanotechnology industry could produce glass that's about twice as strong as the best available today. Rice University researchers have determined that a process called chemical vapor deposition, which is used industrially to make thin films, is one such process.
Glass offers improved means of storing U.K.'s nuclear waste
August 24, 2012 4:56 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Sheffield researchers have shown, for the first time, that a method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for high level waste (HLW), could provide a safer, more efficient, and potentially cheaper, solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of intermediate level waste (ILW).
Catalyst could improve production of glass alternatives
August 21, 2012 3:30 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Oregon chemists have identified a catalyst that could dramatically reduce the amount of waste made in the production of methyl methacrylate, a monomer used in the large-scale manufacturing of lightweight, shatter-resistant alternatives to glass such as Plexiglas.
Through a glass, clearly
April 25, 2012 1:25 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOne of the most instantly recognizable features of glass is the way it reflects light. But a new way of creating surface textures on glass, developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare—and whose surface causes water droplets to bounce right off, like tiny rubber balls.
Glass cleans itself
August 31, 2002 8:00 pm | Award WinnersA company in St. Helens, UK, has found one way to beat the most frustrating rule of nature, Murphy’s Law, which states that window washing begs for rain. But a Pilkington plc team of researchers led by Kevin Sanderson has exploited the power of the elements to engineer glass, normally tarnished by rain, to clean itself. Pilkington Activ Self-Cleaning Glass lets businesses and homeowners alike sit back and watch the rain do the washing.
