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Zhangjiajie Wants to Top Glass Bottomed Bridge

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Zhangjiajie Wants to Top Glass Bottomed Bridge

Zhangjiajie Wants to Top Glass Bottomed Bridge

The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Bridge opened to much fanfare in August. Too much fanfare, in fact. Officials at the park had to close the glass bottomed bridge for about a month to rethink their strategy for moving tens of thousands of visitors across the 1,300-foot span, which is perched about 1,000 feet off the ground.

The number of daily visitors has been capped at 8,000 – about one-tenth of the number of guests that showed up daily when the bridge first opened. In addition, parking and park maintenance has gotten a little facelift.

Buoyed by the popularity of the attraction, the park will now construct a “disappearing” glass bridge that’s designed to blend in with the park’s natural surroundings. The new bridge – a product of the Paris architectural firm, Martin Duplantier Architectes, will cost a cool $4.2 million to build.

The new structure isn’t an all-glass affair. It will be situated between two sandstone cliffs, and will feature mirrored stainless steel walls. The floor will be a reflective black stone combined with glass for the ultimate overhead view of the canyon. Additional hospitality structures (a guest house and café) will be included as part of the package.

The company’s design was selected recently following an architectural competition held in 2015. The new glass bridge is part of a larger plan to improve the tourist experience at the park. The firm did not indicate when construction on the bridge will begin, or how long it will take to complete.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Martin Duplantier Architectes

Chattanooga Votes To Replace Glass Bridge with Stainless Steel

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Chattanooga Votes To Replace Glass Bridge with Stainless Steel

Chattanooga Votes To Replace Glass Bridge with Stainless Steel

The Chattanooga City Council voted earlier this month to replace the glass panels in the Holmberg bridge with slip-resistant stainless steel panels. The push to remodel the pedestrian walkway, which was opened in 2005, is in response to the City’s annual $10,000-$20,000 expenditures to replace cracked and broken glass along the surface of the bridge.

The bridge consists of 86 glass panels, but they won’t all be replaced right away. Instead, initial replacement contract will cover just twelve sections. Additional stainless steel replacements will be added as needed, and as the City budget permits.

City engineers say that the glass panels are simply prone to breakage. According to the Public Works Department, the City has replaced 51 glass panels since 2009. The City has been looking for alternatives to the current glass materials since 2013, hoping to find another transparent material that was more robust. The City settled on a stainless steel solution after consulting with materials specialists from around the country.

The bridge was named to honor Ruth and William Holmberg, former publishers of the Chattanooga Times newspaper. The Holmbergs were ardent supporters of the arts, and the bridge draws people to the Bluff View Arts District, and provides pedestrian access over Riverview Parkway.

Although the panels consist of multiple layers of laminated glass, the City found that the middle layer of the panel consistently broke. Engineers believe that vandalism, changes in the weather, and unusual wear-and-tear from skateboarders and cyclists is responsible for the ongoing breakage issues. The City anticipates that the entire walking surface of the bridge could be overhauled in 1-2 years.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Larry Miller , via Flickr.com

Chinese Auto Glass Manufacturer Outsources Jobs

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Chinese Auto Glass Manufacturer Outsources Jobs

Chinese Auto Glass Manufacturer Outsources Jobs

In a twist, a Chinese auto glass manufacturing firm has moved 2,000 jobs from its Chinese facilities to a former General Motors assembly plant in Moraine, OH. The Fuyao Glass Industry Group, owned by Chinese billionaire Cao Dewang, reopened the plant in October and could add as many as 1,000 more workers in the coming months.

The Moraine, OH assembly plant had produced small trucks and SUVs, including the S-10, the GMC Envoy and the Chevrolet TrailBlazer. GM idled the facility in 2008, and Fuyao Glass Industry Group purchased it in 2014.

The company, which supplies auto glass for both General Motors and Volkswagen, found it less expensive to manufacture glass in the United States than to manufacture it in China and ship it to the United States.

The company reported profits of $370 million in 2015. Dewang made the difficult decision to move the company’s North American operations to Moraine in response to what he characterized as China’s high taxes and high labor costs.

In addition to reducing Dewang’s overall costs, the move may shield the company from onerous tariffs being considered by the incoming Trump administration. Fuyao Glass has invested more than $1B in its US operations.

Glass is typically produced locally in relation to the manufacturer’s target market, so it’s not entirely surprising that Fuyao Glass would want a North American production facility. Producing glass locally allows the manufacturer to reduce its transportation costs, improve transportation logistics and respond more easily to market demand.

According to Dewang, he pays about 35% more in taxes on his facilities in mainland China than he does on his facilities in the United States. Additionally, the Chinese government has increased social welfare payments and value-added taxes on manufacturing firms. Dewang says that wages in the US are about 8 times higher than the wages he pays to workers in China, but the tax assessments increase his overall costs for Chinese manufacturing.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Truck PR, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – Sage Gateshead

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Iconic Glass Structures – Sage Gateshead

Iconic Glass Structures – Sage Gateshead

This week, we look at Sage Gateshead, a glass and steel concert venue in Gateshead, UK. The building opened in 2004, and is currently leased to the North Music Trust. The uniquely styled building is part of a larger arts complex, which also includes the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

While Sage Gateshead hosts its share of chamber music performances, the venue also serves musicians in a wide range of genres. The building was designed by Foster and Parters, which presented the winning design in a competition. Although the building did not open until 2004, planning for the space began more than 10 years prior to its inaugural performance. The final construction cost exceeded $86 million, and was paid for largely through government grants.

Initially intended as a chamber music performance hall, Sage Gateshead morphed into a more flexible venue to accommodate regional performers and a variety of musical styles. The venue has hosted classical, pop, rock, hip hop, jazz, indie and acoustical performances.

The building houses two main performance halls that seat 1,750 and 450 guests respectively. Sage Gateshead also has a smaller rehearsal facility. The three performance spaces are key to the rest of the building’s design. The rest of the building’s facilities were designed to accommodate the acoustics of the performance spaces.

While the complex is housed under a single glass and steel skin, the interior of the building reveals three distinct buildings under one roof. The glass and steel outer structure does not actually touch any of the three performance spaces. In addition, the interior buildings were constructed using a special, acoustic-friendly concrete mixture. Ceiling panels and curtains in the buildings can be moved or adjusted to change the acoustic profile of a performance space. Spaces are reconfigured based on the type of musical performance.

Aside from the performance spaces, the building also houses the Music Education Centre, where students of all skill levels take instrumental music lessons. The Music Education Centre also offers workshops and public programs. The building also houses a recording studio, a community space and a public audio library.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Wojtek Gurak , via Flickr.com

Could “bendable” glass lead to a folding glass phone?

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Could "bendable" glass lead to a folding glass phone?

Could “bendable” glass lead to a folding glass phone?

The goal of making smart phones lighter and more flexible could be one step closer to reality, thanks to bendable glass. Samsung first introduced bendable glass at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013. So far, that hasn’t led to foldable glass phones, but some industry experts think that the company could put a foldable glass phone on the market in 2017.

Samsung isn’t the only technology company that’s interested in foldable glass. Apple has long been rumored to be considering the development of a bendable glass phone. The company is already working on an all-glass version of the iPhone.

The goal is to create a foldable device that’s the size of a phone when folded, and the size of a tablet when it is opened up. Such a phone would use OLED technology, and would more than likely feature a curved screen.

Samsung has already introduced a curved glass phone to the market, in the form of the company’s Galaxy S7 Edge, but the company says that its consumer research shows that the end user values the size of a standard phone, but welcomes the extra real estate the phone offers.

The allure of glass has also charmed Apple, which is working on the all-glass iPhone. The company is expected to release the iPhone 8 in late 2017 or early 2018, but there’s no indication that the iPhone 8 will be foldable, or that it will include bendable glass of any kind.

Bendable glass isn’t exactly new. Fiber optic cabling is bendable to some extent, though it’s certainly not foldable. Bendable glass allows designers to create a screen, something that’s never been done before, and it may allow them to create a complete foldable design that provides the form of a standard smart phone that’s expandable to a functional tablet when desired.

Certainly, there are smartphones of varying sizes, but the size of a phone (or a tablet) determines its functionality. If a tablet surface is too small to type, for example, its functionality – and therefore its appeal – is limited. Nothing is announced as far as products or even projects, but it’s worthwhile to note that Samsung has already shown bendable glass. It makes sense that consumers will be seeing that on the market sooner rather than later.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: MomentiMedia, via Flickr.com

Smart glass can tint automatically or manually

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Smart glass can tint automatically or manually

Smart glass can tint automatically or manually

Scientists and materials engineers have been working with “smart” glass for awhile. Smart glass can change its opacity, usually when an electric current is applied to particles embedded in the glass. Photochromic glasses can tint when they detect UV light. Kinestral, a startup based in Hayward, CA, has developed a new type of electrochromic glass that can change opacity either on demand or automatically, based on conditions or programming.

According to the company, the new glass is virtually indistinguishable from regular glass when it is in its untinted state. Halio glass can be tinted manually, using a wall-mounted control panel. It also responds to voice commands and requests from a smartphone app. In addition, the glass is “programmable.” It can respond to a preset program from the control pad, or it can be programmed to respond to conditions including weather changes, the time of day, or the presence of sunlight.

That’s not Halio’s only set of tricks. Individual panes of glass can be controlled separately, meaning that one panel, or a group of panels can be tinted, while others appear perfectly clear. In addition, users can select the depth of shading that each window achieves. The glass can also be used for entirely interior applications to provide privacy or shading for offices, meeting rooms and conference rooms.

The shading effect isn’t instantaneous. It takes about five minutes for the glass to change from its lightest to darkest shading. Kinestral hasn’t yet put Halio on the market; the glass will be available for purchase in certain regions starting in 2017. The company has not yet said where the product roll-out will start, but it intends to make the glass available globally in 2018.

One inexpensive way to control the transmission of heat and light is through the use of Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially formulated to adhere to glass surfaces permanently. Once cured, Glassprimer™ glass paint will not chip, fade or peel, even in direct sunlight. The paint can be tinted to match the paint palette of any major paint manufacturer, and comes in low-VOC oil- and water-based formulations.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: seier + seier, via Flickr.com

New twist on graffiti snares 29 businesses

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New twist on graffiti snares 29 businesses

New twist on graffiti snares 29 businesses

Last month, nearly 30 Berkeley, CA businesses were hit by graffiti of a very different kind. Usually, a spray can is a graffiti artist’s tool of choice. Two teenagers, who were eventually arrested, instead etched the glass windows of 29 businesses in the course of a single night.

Surveillance video captured the pair of vandals doing their worst to display windows along a several-block stretch of Solano Avenue. Police say the teens used an etching tool to inscribe the windows with graffiti, obscenities and the name “Felipe” which police say is most likely a “tag” for one of the teens.

The teens damaged the storefronts on the day before Thanksgiving, which caught may storeowners by surprise. The etched glass cannot be repaired. It must be replaced at a significant cost. Some of the damage may not be covered by insurance. Some policies specifically exclude damage to glass. In that case, the glass will need to be replaced out-of-pocket.

A witness to the graffiti spree called 911 at 2:16 AM, and police arrived in time to apprehend one of the vandals after a short chase. The other vandal was arrested a couple of hours later. The juveniles were released to the custody of their parents, but they now face felony vandalism charges as a result.

Repairing glass often involves replacing the damaged glass. Surface damage on glass is significant because it can ultimately lead to the failure of the glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint doesn’t repair glass, but it is specially modified to bond permanently to the surface of glass without weakening it.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications. It is a low-VOC compound and comes in both oil- and water-based formulations. Either preparation offers easy clean-up, and can be used safely indoors.

Glassprimer™ glass paint will not chip, fade or peel, even in direct sunlight. It’s exceptional UV resistance means that it can also block light waves that generate unwanted heat. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Susan Sermoneta, via Flickr.com

Porous glass may help deliver medicine

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Porous glass may help deliver medicine

Porous glass may help deliver medicine

We live in an active age of drug discovery. Pharmaceutical research has led to the development of a high number of medicines to treat temporary and permanent conditions. The idea of “popping a pill” to cure a disease or relieve a condition is attractive, but the human body has built in systems to frustrate the delivery of drugs. One daunting environment is the human stomach. Stomach acids and other digestive juices often change or even destroy pills before their contents can be delivered. Enter the porous glass microsphere.

The small intestines are responsible for a great deal of nutritional absorption, but to get there, one must pass through the stomach, with all of its hideously destructive acids. One clever way to ensure that drugs make it into the small intestines intact is the time-honored “timed-release” delivery. Drugs are specially coated to survive the trip through the stomach. The coating breaks down eventually, but hopefully not before the cargo reaches its target.

But again – there is some variability in the way the stomach works. Digestion really isn’t time-dependent. The stomach can empty its contents into the small intestines much sooner or much later than expected. In either case, the drug doesn’t get delivered in the right amount. Either the time-release coating isn’t broken down or it broke down before reaching the small intestines.

Porous glass microspheres can help control the time-release of a drug. They can be created using several different materials, including bioactive glasses, ceramics, biopolymers and silicates. These structures have small cavities that can hold a precious pharmaceutical payload. When encapsulated in a glass microsphere, drugs can better survive the stomach, and offer a better time-release mechanism. This leads to a more reliable way to deliver drugs at the right time and in the right place. It can also protect drugs from naturally occurring substances in the GI tract that might bind with a drug and make it unavailable to the body.

One of the desirable characteristics of the glass microspheres is that they float! They can pass easily through the digestive tract and offer better timed-release performance. Glass microspheres won’t help with drugs that are likely to break down in acid, but they can assist in delivering timed-release drug therapies.

Photo Credit: Savannah River Site, via Flickr.com

Hotel Hubertus Glass Pool Rises To A New Space

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Hotel Hubertus's Glass Pool Takes Swimming To A New Space

Hotel Hubertus’s Glass Pool Takes Swimming To A New Space

If you’re a fan of swimming in glass bottomed pools, you’ll want to save your pennies for a trip to Italy. The newly renovated Hotel Hubertus is a skiing and hiking resort nestled in the Dolomites in Valdora Bozen. The hotel has been remodeled, redesigned and expanded.

Being in the mountains, the hotel is already nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, but that didn’t stop the designers from making the hotel’s pool even more attractive to those who like a view from above. The new pool combines the concept of an infinity pool with that of a cantilevered pool, to great effect. Swimmers get great views in all directions, including down, thanks to the glass-bottomed tank.

The new pool is more than 80 feet long, and 55 of those feed overhang the Dolomite cliffs. The pool is blended artfully into the surrounding terrain; its sides are faced with anthracite-colored stone. The “infinity” pool gives swimmers the impression that the pool water vanishes into the nothingness at the visible edge of the tank.

The pool appears to be supported by native larch trees. In reality, larch tree trunks were debarked and installed beneath the pool in an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Larch trees are also used extensively inside the renovated hotel’s common areas.

The renovation of the lodge included the addition of more than a dozen new suites, and takes every advantage of the surrounding environment, which happens to be a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. In addition to the cantilevered pool, the property has five other pools – both indoor and outdoor – that are open to guests. Skiing and golf courses are also locally available.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: NOA Network

Oregon calls glass dental sealants into question

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Oregon calls glass dental sealants into question

Oregon calls glass dental sealants into question

The State of Oregon isn’t sure about the value of glass in dental sealants. In the past couple of decades, dentists have taken a new approach to reducing tooth decay among children. Once a child’s permanent molars erupt, dentists seal the chewing surface of the tooth with a sealant, made either from an epoxy resin or newer glass ionomer material. The State of Oregon has determined that it prefers the epoxy resin, under the belief that glass ionomer sealants are inferior.

Initially, the strategy involved using epoxy resins, but newer glass ionomer sealants are also widely in use. States often provide dental care to dependent children who receive Medicaid services. Some dentists prefer glass ionomer sealants because they require a less precise application and tend to form better seals in some cases than the epoxy resins do. Epoxy resins must be applied to a dry surface – something that’s kind of hard to come by in a patient’s mouth!

Glass ionomer sealants also release fluoride, which can help build and protect enamel surfaces in the mouth. In addition to blocking access to spaces in the teeth that might be more prone to decay, glass-based sealants can also deliver fluoride to the surfaces of the teeth over time. Epoxy resins cannot be used to deliver fluoride. Glass ionomer sealants are also better at reaching deep fissures in tooth surfaces – the surfaces most likely to be impacted by decay.

Despite their advantages, glass ionomer sealants are permeable, which means that acids and other tooth-damaging bacteria could pass through the sealant. Studies have shown, however, that glass ionomer sealants produce similar decay-stopping results to epoxy resin sealants. The similar performance is thought to come from the glass sealant’s fluoride delivery – which strengthens tooth enamel and makes it more decay-resistant.

Some proponents of the glass ionomer sealants argue that the sealants work best during the years when they’re needed most. Younger children sometimes have difficulty achieving good oral hygiene. By sealing new teeth when they’re most vulnerable to decay, dentists can preserve teeth early, and then apply additional treatments when the patient is better prepared to take good care of their teeth.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Trinity Care Foundation, via Flickr.com