A sample of LionGlass, a new kind of glass engineered by researchers at Penn State that needs significantly less energy to produce and is a lot more damage resistant than standard soda lime silicate glass. Credit: Adrienne Berard/Penn State
A new type of glass called LionGlass, developed by Penn State researchers, uses the possible to reduce this carbon output by 50%. Not just does this ingenious glass need significantly less energy for production, however it likewise boasts greater resistance to damage compared to conventional soda lime silicate glass.
” Our objective is to make glass production sustainable for the long term,” stated John Mauro, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State and lead researcher on the job. “LionGlass gets rid of the usage of carbon-containing batch products and significantly lowers the melting temperature level of glass.”
Soda lime silicate glass, the typical glass used in everyday products from windows to glass tableware, is made by melting 3 main materials: quartz sand, soda ash, and limestone. Soda ash is salt carbonate and limestone is calcium carbonate, both of which release carbon dioxide (CO2), a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, as they are melted.
” During the glass melting procedure, the carbonates break down into oxides and produce co2, which gets launched into the atmosphere,” Mauro said.
But the bulk of the CO2 emissions originate from the energy required to heat heating systems to the high temperatures needed for melting glass. With LionGlass, the melting temperatures are decreased by about 300 to 400 degrees Celsius, Mauro described, which results in a roughly 30% decrease in energy intake compared to conventional soda lime glass.
Not just is LionGlass easier on the environment, however its likewise much more powerful than conventional glass. The researchers stated they were shocked to discover that the new glass, named after Penn States Nittany Lion mascot, possesses considerably greater fracture resistance compared to conventional glass.
A few of the teams glass structures had such a strong crack resistance that the glass would not break, even under a one kilogram-force load from a Vickers diamond indenter. LionGlass is at least 10 times as crack-resistant compared to standard soda lime glass, which forms cracks under a load of about 0.1 kilograms force. The scientists described that the limits of LionGlass have actually not yet been discovered, since they reached the maximum load allowed by the indentation equipment.
” We kept increasing the weight on LionGlass till we reached the maximum load the devices will allow,” said Nick Clark, a postdoctoral fellow in Mauros laboratory. “It merely wouldnt crack.”
Mauro described that fracture resistance is one of the most important qualities to test for in glass due to the fact that it is how the material ultimately fails. Glass that is resistant to forming microcracks in the first place is specifically important, he included.
” Damage resistance is a particularly essential property for glass,” Mauro said. “Think about all the methods we count on the strength of glass, in the automotive industry and electronics market, architecture, and communication technology like fiber optic cables. Even in healthcare, vaccines are saved in strong, chemically resistant glass packaging.”
Mauro is hoping that the better strength of LionGlass indicates the products produced from it can be lighter weight. Since LionGlass is 10 times more damage resistant than present glass, it could be considerably thinner.
” We must have the ability to minimize the thickness and still get the very same level of damage resistance,” Mauro said. “If we have a lighter-weight product, that is even much better for the environment, due to the fact that we utilize less basic materials and need less energy to produce it. Even downstream, for transportation, that minimizes the energy needed to carry the glass, so its a winning circumstance for everyone.”
Mauro keeps in mind that the research group is still examining the potential of LionGlass. They have actually filed a patent application for the entire household of glass, which suggests there are numerous structures within the LionGlass household, each with its own potential applications and unique properties. They are now in the process of exposing different structures of LionGlass to a variety of chemical environments to study how it responds. The results will help the team establish a much better understanding of how LionGlass can be utilized throughout the world.
” Humans found out how to manufacture glass more than 5,000 years earlier and given that then it has actually been vital to bringing modern civilization to where it is today,” Mauro stated. “Now, we are at a time when we require it to assist form the future, as we deal with worldwide difficulties such as ecological problems, renewable resource, energy efficiency, healthcare, and metropolitan development. Glass can play an essential function in fixing these concerns, and we are ready to contribute.”
A new type of glass called LionGlass, developed by Penn State researchers, provides the potential to minimize this carbon output by 50%. Not just does this ingenious glass need substantially less energy for production, however it also boasts higher resistance to damage compared to standard soda lime silicate glass. Some of the teams glass compositions had such a strong crack resistance that the glass would not split, even under a one kilogram-force load from a Vickers diamond indenter. LionGlass is at least 10 times as crack-resistant compared to standard soda lime glass, which forms fractures under a load of about 0.1 kgs force. They have filed a patent application for the whole household of glass, which suggests there are many structures within the LionGlass family, each with its own unique residential or commercial properties and potential applications.