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Diamond Glass Aims for 500-lb Gorilla

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Diamond Glass Aims for 500-lb Gorilla

Diamond Glass Aims for 500-lb Gorilla

A semiconductor startup in Illinois claims to have created a mobile device screen that’s four times more crack-resistant and seven times more scratch resistant than Corning’s industry-owning Gorilla Glass. The screen is diamond coated, which the company says makes it exceptionally resistant to damage.

Diamond glass isn’t the first gemstone-glass combination

This isn’t the first time that glass and gemstones have met. Apple uses sapphire coated glass in its iWatch to help the device stand up to daily abuse. Ahkan Semiconductor says that it has developed the glass and can manufacture it using a vapor deposition process, which is mass production friendly.

Can diamond-coated glass be manufactured cheaply and quickly enough to meet market demand? Is there any likelihood that the diamond-coated glass, known as Akhan Miraj NCD, will displace Corning’s Gorilla Glass? The company is not yet mass producing the product, and is looking for licensees so the new super-tough glass won’t show up in mobile devices in the immediate future, but incorporating diamonds could significantly improve a device’s ability to withstand drops and dings.

Just last month, Corning announced an upgrade to Gorilla Glass. The new formulation can withstand 80% of drops from shoulder height, but that may not be enough to top the new approach. According to the company, the Akhan Miraj NCD is 800 times thinner than Gorilla Glass, and can flex up to 45° without breaking.

The vapor deposition combined with microwave radiation allows synthetic diamonds to be “grown” on the surface of the glass. According to the company, the glass is much cheaper to make than sapphire glass, and is in theory more desirable because diamonds are more scratch-resistant than sapphires.

Akhan says it can have the glass in full-scale production in about a year. Akhan says it would consider a license agreement with Corning, so the companies could become partners, rather than competitors.

Although the glass is intended for use with mobile devices, in theory, it could find other uses. If you’re interested in considering the possible uses of glass, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ch’7K, via Flickr.com

China’s latest glass walkway

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China's latest glass walkway

China’s latest glass walkway

The newest glass walkway in China is at the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area. The walkway, known as the Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk, is 110 meters long and 5 feet wide. The skywalk is part of a larger mountain road that takes visitors through 99 turns as it scales a sheer face of the Tianmen Mountain.

One of three glass walkways in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park


The glass walkway is part of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province. Tianmen Mountain is home to two other glass bridge/walkway attractions. The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge, the longest glass bottomed bridge in the world was scheduled to open earlier this summer, but has not yet been completed. The first glass walkway in the park opened in 2011.

The Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk is 4,600 feet above sea level, and 1,000 feet above Tongtian Avenue, the road that carries tourists to the top of the mountain. The skywalk has been open to thrill-seeking visitors for just two weeks but is already receiving rave reviews from thrill-seekers.

In the last year, several “glass” attractions have opened around the world, including the skywalks in the Zhangjiajie National Forest, a single story glass slide and observation decks on the 69th and 70th floors of a skyscraper in Los Angeles, and a glass-bottomed walkway over the Thames River in London. Tourists can also find glass skywalks and observation decks in Chicago at the Willis Tower and the former Hancock Observatory.

The emergence of glass walkways, bridges and observation decks as tourist attractions speaks to the strength and versatility of glass. Today, designers are taking every opportunity to incorporate glass into unique interiors and exteriors. Specialized glass coatings like Glassprimer™ glass paint make it possible to incorporate glass and add virtually any color to an interior design plan. Whether you’re looking for form, function or a bit of both, consider Glassprimer™ glass paint for your next interior design.

If you’re looking for additional glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jacques Beaulieu, via FreeImages.com

Iconic Glass Structures–National Grand Theatre

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Iconic Glass Structures – The National Grand Theatre

Iconic Glass Structures – The National Grand Theatre

The National Grand Theatre, also known as the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, opened in 2007. The building, which was designed by French architect Paul Andreu, is egg shaped, and appears to float on a manmade lake. Visitors enter the building from a tunnel that goes under the lake.

Glass and titanium is surrounded by water


The NCPA houses three performance facilities- The Opera Hall, The Concert Hall and The Theatre Hall. The venue accommodates about 5,500 visitors at a time. The building consists of a glass and titanium skin and is approximately 700 x 475x 150, meaning that the building exceeds 330,000 square feet.

The NCPA operates as a partially subsidized venture between the central Chinese government, the local Beijing government and the Centre itself. About 60% of the facility’s operating costs come from governmental funds. About 70% of the tickets for events at the venues are reserved and priced for ordinary Chinese citizens. The remaining tickets are priced according to market demand.

The building’s exterior consists of more than 18,000 titanium panels and 1,000 “white” glass panels. The titanium panels are located at the ends of the “egg”, giving the visual impression of a theater curtain being drawn back to reveal the performances inside.

The NCPA is located immediately west of Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People. The performance halls in the building each have their own decorating theme. The Opera Hall is predominantly white and silver. The Concert Hall is predominantly gold. The Theatre Hall is decorated in red, following traditional Chinese style.

The building was designed to reflect the buildings around it. It incorporates a large green space around the building, which is open to the public. The building also has underground parking. The complex creates a relaxing oasis in the middle of a city of nearly 9 million people.

Construction of the glass and titanium building took more than 5 years, and took place between 2001 and 2007. Construction was delayed for a time, following the collapse of an airport terminal in Paris that used similar design features. Construction resumed after minor design changes, and the NCPA welcomed its first visitors in 2007.

If you’re looking for “glass inspiration,” 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

Solar Windows Generate Electricity

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Solar Windows Generate Electricity

Solar Windows Generate Electricity

Last month, Solar Window Technologies, a Columbia, MD company, introduced SolarWindow, a solar electricity generation and transmission system that is applied to windows. The product generates clean electricity via transparent organic coatings that are applied in thin layers to glass surface.

Solar windows use “invisible” wires

The company is developing the windows specifically for use in urban office buildings, which consume about 40% of all electricity nationwide. The coating incorporates “invisible wires” that transport the generated electricity to the building’s electrical system. The “invisible wires” are about 50µm wide, about half of the width of a human hair. The wires are virtually undetectable by the human eye. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, the electricity generating glass is able to be mass produced

Solar Window Technologies claims that the windows offer a one-year payback, based on installation on a 50-story building. That compares with a return-on-investment period of between 5-11 years using conventional solar collection over a 10-12 acre installation. Although the company has specifically targeted the product for urban structures, the glass could also be installed in residential structures.

The company has also been working on a way to convert existing windows to solar collectors without requiring replacement of the existing glass surface. The windows are still in the development stage and are not currently available. Solar Window Technologies does not yet know when it will be able to bring the solar windows to market, but it has been working closely with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop the product, with the intent of rapid commercialization.

Windows play an increasingly important role in buildings, both for light transmission and energy consumption. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used to help control light and the buildup of heat. Glassprimer™ glass paint is UV-resistant and exceptionally durable, in part because it forms a permanent bond with the surface of the glass. Controlling solar heat gain can also significantly reduce energy consumption, and prevent heat loss in the winter.

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: Fellowship of the Rich, via Flickr.com

Glass tools were used to make tattoos

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Glass tools were used to make tattoos

Glass tools were used to make tattoos

Researchers from the Australian Museum in Sydney have concluded that volcanic glass tools recovered from South Pacific archaeological sites were used to create tattoos. The tools, which are made from obsidian, came from the Solomon Islands.

Tattoos are culturally important in many places, and especially in Pacific Island culture. Researchers haven’t found many well preserved human remains that contain tattoos, but know that the practice is and was widespread.

Glass was available, strong and shapeable

Researchers recreated similar “tattoo tools” using modern obsidian and used them to create tattoos on pigskin over a period of months. Tattooing requires that the skin be broken in order to introduce dyes into open wound.

The ancient glass tools were reshaped to contain specific features, including short, sharp and pointed edges. The researchers created tattoos using materials that would have been commonly available at the time, including charcoal and red ochre.

Once the tools had been used several times, the researchers compared microscopic wear and scratches among both the ancient and modern tools. They found that the glass in both cases showed similar signs of wear. The ancient tools also showed traces of blood, charcoal and ochre.

The finding underscores the importance of the role of glass in ancient cultures that did not have access to metal.

Today, there are better ways of creating tattoos than by using glass! Even if glass has been retired from the stable of options for tattoo work, you can still decorate with glass in other ways.

Glassprimer™ glass paint, for example, offers a great opportunity to create colorful, durable and practical glass installations, including windows, dividers and glass surfaces. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially designed to make a permanent bond with glass, and won’t chip, peel or fade, even when exposed to direct sunlight.

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

Photo Credit: Kevin Walsh, via Flickr.com

Raining glass: no place like home

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Raining glass: no place like home

Raining glass: no place like home

We’ve seen stories about falling glass and unexpected glass breakage, but the Hubble Telescope has captured something we’ve never contemplated: glass rain. University of Arizona astronomers were gazing upon a relatively new exoplanet about 160 light years from Earth. The exoplanet, 2M1207b, is huge – between four and five times the size of Jupiter.

Atmosphere generates liquid glass

Like Jupiter, 2M1207b is a gaseous planet. It’s unimaginably hot – somewhere between 2,200° F and 2,600° F to be exact (or as exact as you can be from this distance.) The good news is that it rains on 2M1207b. The bad news is that the average rainstorm lays down molten iron in the lower atmosphere. In the upper atmosphere, a rainstorm generates glass.

2M1207b is actually the first exoplanet to have been imaged directly by the Hubble Space Telescope. The initial images of the planet were taken in 2004 and it’s been studied ever since. The planet is giving off so much heat because it’s so new; it’s still contracting, and will likely do so for millions of years. Astronomers point out that Jupiter and Saturn are still contracting, even though they are much older than 2M1207b. The fact that it is throwing so much heat also makes it easier to see and study.

NASA has found more than 2,000 exoplanets using the Hubble Telescope. In addition to being the first directly imaged exoplanet, it was also the first exoplanet found orbiting a brown dwarf – a type of failed star.

No one’s going to be calling 2M1207b home anytime soon, but exoplanets like this give astronomers some clues about what may have happened during the formation of our own planet and solar system.

Fortunately, we have much better control over glass production here at home than what you’ll find on 2M1207b. Decorating with glass is also much easier with Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is designed to make a permanent bond with glass surfaces, and offers superior UV protection for at least 10 years.

No umbrella in the world will help you with the glass storms on 2M1207b, but if you’re looking for ways to decorate with glass here on Earth, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: European Southern Observatory

Glass roof melts museum exhibits, visitors

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Glass roof melts museum exhibits, visitors

Glass roof melts museum exhibits, visitors

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History got its own lesson about nature after it had a glass roof in its facility restored. The newly cleaned and restored glass panels immediately got to work on melting the exhibits in the museum.

According to the university, temperatures inside the museum have exceeded 110° F at times and damaged exhibits, including those containing dinosaur bones and rare animal specimens. The museum, for example, has one of the few existing partial skeletons of the Dodo, a flightless bird that became extinct in the late 17th century.

The trouble began in 2013, after the museum undertook an ambitious $2.5 million project to repair and restore the building’s Victorian-era glass roof. Part of that restoration included removing the roof’s existing, worn UV film. Apparently, the project didn’t include replacing it.

Despite outward appearances, the old UV film was still doing its job. Following restoration, the unimpeded windows – free of both the UV protection and the built-up grime – now admit enough UV radiation to pose a potential danger to museum visitors. To rectify the situation, the Oxford City Council is paying to have UV-protective film applied to the glass roof. The film will eliminate virtually all UV radiation, but it won’t help the temperature inside the museum much. For that, the City Council will spring for a new air conditioning system.

UV radiation and solar heat gain are significant issues in buildings of all ages. Glass admits light but traps heat inside of a building. This excess heat build-up can cause increased energy consumption, as building occupants try to combat the change in temperature with air conditioning.

A different approach is to reduce UV radiation, and to employ strategies that admit desirable light without promoting an increase in temperature. Glassprimer™ glass paint is a proven UV-resistant coating that allows light transmission while reflecting the UV radiation that exacerbates solar heat gain. Glassprimer™ glass paint is cost-effective, and can be tinted to match any color from any major paint manufacturer’s color palette. It is specially engineered to bond with glass, and once cured, will not peel, chip or fade.
If you’re looking for some glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Barnyz, via Flickr.com

Glass welding set to take off

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Glass welding set to take off

Glass welding set to take off

Glass can be formed into just about any shape when it is molten, but joining two pieces of glass that have hardened usually requires glue. Last month, toolmaker Trumpf announced that it had developed a laser-based “welding” process that joins glass without glue.

Glass welding creates stronger joints

The new process is superior to joining glass with adhesives because the joint will not deteriorate or wear out. In addition to increasing the strength and stability of a joint, it also decreases the cost.

Welding glass sounds less complicated than it actually is. When cooled, glass is brittle. It also tends to break in random ways because of the molecular structure of glass. In addition, cooled glass has a lower thermal conductivity. Simply applying a laser to the glass will heat the material unevenly, and the glass will crack under the stress. To address this, Trumpf’s system uses a special femtosecond laser that can be programmed to turn on and off variably according to the conditions.

Another challenge of joining solid glass is the fact that glass allows all light wavelengths to pass through. Welding glass requires a very high energy density right at the laser’s focal point, so the process has to be able to concentrate the laser light without allowing too much light energy to escape. The Trumpf laser melts the glass at the laser’s focal point. Melting the glass makes the joint, but the temperature at the focal point also needs to be precisely managed to avoid cracking the cooler surrounding glass. By varying the on-off timing of the laser and managing the cooling process, the laser avoids cracking the glass while the weld is being created.

The process allows manufacturers to replace glued glass joints with welded ones, resulting in a stronger, more economical joint. The company has said that one early application of the technology will be in capping fiber optic cables.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can’t be used to weld glass, or even join two pieces of glass together. But it can be used to create vibrant colors on glass that won’t chip, fade or peel, even after exposure to direct sunlight and high humidity. Glassprimer™ glass paint makes a permanent bond to the glass, so your project will look like new for years to come.

For more glass inspiration, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .
Photo Credit: Andrea Pacelli, via Flickr.com

Glass skateboard trial doesn’t go well

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Glass skateboard trial doesn't go well

Glass skateboard trial doesn’t go well

Skateboards can be made from a lot of creative materials, but apparently glass isn’t one of them. Video of the test ride of a glass skateboard surfaced last month, and it illustrates the limits of glass pretty well.

Glass skateboard more for show

The glass skateboard was made by a company called Avenue Trucks, a California-based company that makes skateboard suspension systems. The idea behind the glass skateboard was that the suspension would support the glass and make for a pretty smooth ride. According to the video, it made for a pretty cool appearance, but the board itself couldn’t stand up to the tricks, with predictable results. (Perhaps acrylic next time?)

If you’re looking for predictable results with glass, try working with Glassprimer™ glass paint, instead. Glassprimer™ glass paint was specifically engineered to adhere to glass surfaces – but it does more than just adhere. The paint actually forms a permanent bond at the nanoparticle level with glass, which means it won’t chip, won’t fade and won’t peel, even in high humidity, direct sunlight and other challenging conditions.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is available in virtually any color. We can tint it to match paint from any major paint manufacturer’s paint palette, which means that you can apply Glassprimer™ glass paint to glass and other non-porous surfaces, and use ordinary paint for ordinary surfaces. The colors will match perfectly, and your results will be brilliant!

Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly affordable, too. You can cover surfaces for about $1 per square foot, and because the catalyst and paint are mixed at the time of application, you can store your unused paint until you’re ready for your next project.

Glassprimer™ glass paint cleans easily, too. Using ordinary paint thinners (or water if you’re using the water-based version), you can clean Glassprimer™ from your tools and workspace in a snap! Both version of the paint are certified low-VOC compounds, so you can breathe easy after your paint project is complete!

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

Photo Credit: Bo, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – Edifici Gas Natural

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Iconic Glass Structures – Edifici Gas Natural

Iconic Glass Structures – Edifici Gas Natural

Barcelona is home to a number of distinctive iconic glass structures, not the least of which is Edifici Gas Natural, also known as Torre Mare Nostrum. This 20-story building is unusual, not because it’s clad in 18,000 square meters of solar-control glass, but because of its distinctive cantilevered extension. The extension, which rises to half of the building’s height, appears to float off the side of the vertical tower.

Glass building transitions old to new

The building houses the offices of the natural gas utility in the city, and was built on the site of the city’s original natural gas plant. Like the tower itself, the cantilevered extension is also fully occupied workspace. Architects Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT submitted the winning building design, but Miralles never saw the completed project. He died shortly after his design was accepted.

Because the glass used in the building is low-emissivity coated glass, the building is highly energy efficient. The architects intended to create a landmark for the Barcelona skyline, and they succeeded. At the same time, the building is close to low-rise housing, so the designers wanted their building to “communicate” with the surrounding low-rise buildings.

The building is located on the edge of an area of the city known as La Barceloneta, which borders the Mediterranean Sea, and was originally constructed in the mid-1700’s. La Barceloneta is a gateway to the rest of the city, but it is still largely residential, which explains the architects’ desire to avoid building a tower that did rose abruptly among the surrounding low-rise buildings.

The building has been complete for just 11 years, and offers a distinctively modern appearance. In addition to the low-rise buildings, the Torre Mare Nostrum is also near two other skyscrapers also designed in the High-Tech Architecture style – the Hotel Arts and the Torre Mapfre.

If you’re looking for some glass inspiration, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Teresa Grau Ros , via Flickr.com