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New glass may be stronger than aluminum

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New glass may be stronger than aluminum

New glass may be stronger than aluminum

Researchers in Japan have created a new glass formulation that may be stronger than aluminum. The value of this glass is that it doesn’t break when it’s dropped or impacted. Glass makers have known for a long time that adding alumina to a glass mixture could make the resulting product exceptionally strong, but simply adding alumina to glass during production doesn’t yield the desired result.

Instead, adding alumina to the glass creates silicon dioxide crystals at the mixture’s point of contact with its container, which ruins the product. The researchers needed to overcome this production issue in order to create super-strong glass. Since contact with the production equipment was the cause of the problem, the Japanese researchers came up with a way to eliminate the container during production.

The process they came up with suspends the mixture on a cushion of air and mixes it with a laser. The finished product displays the expected characteristics – hardness and transparency. The resulting product is also colorless.

The researchers were able to produce the experimental glass in the laboratory, but their experimental methodology doesn’t easily translate well to a mass production environment. The next step is to modify their experimental production to allow the technique to be used to mass produce glass. Once they overcome that hurdle, we could see truly shatterproof glass in mobile phones, wearable technology and other products. Incidentally, the resulting glass isn’t necessarily limited in size. In theory, the ultra-strong glass could be used in automobiles, building windows and doors.

Glass already comes in a number of formulations that offer a number of different properties, but regardless of the formulation, Glassprimer™ glass paint will bind to them all. Glassprimer™ glass paint is designed to create a permanent bond to the surface of glass. It also makes the same permanent bond to other impervious surfaces, like stone, metal, ceramics and plastic. Glassprimer™ glass paint can also be tinted to match the paint palette of virtually any major paint manufacturer.

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: Kaydee H., via FreeImages.com

Gorilla glass for wearable technology

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Gorilla glass for wearable technology

Gorilla glass for wearable technology

Wearable technology is making a play for a bigger piece of the mobile market share. According to Gartner and other industry analysts, the wearable technology market will grow to $150B or bigger in the next decade. With that much wearable technology around, that means an awful lot of glass. Corning has recently announced its latest version of Gorilla Glass – Gorilla Glass SR+ – designed especially for wearable technology.

Given the rugged and unpredictable environment that the trackers may find themselves in, the use of Gorilla Glass SR+ and other specially formulated glass displays makes sense. Currently, one in five adults in the US own at least one wearable device, and the market is poised for tremendous growth.

Gorilla Glass SR+ is designed specifically for wearable technology. The new formulation is specially scratch resistant and improves visibility for small displays. Currently, Gorilla glass is used to protect more than 1,800 mobile/wearable devices on the market.

Unlike mobile devices – where the danger for the display is in being dropped – glass in wearable devices has to be strong enough to withstand daily wear and the little knocks and abrasions that go along with it. Most wearable technology is oriented toward fitness tracking, or extending or substitute for a mobile phone.

Wearable technology certainly isn’t new, but designers are reformulating technology to manage many things. One could argue that glasses, contact lenses and hearing aids are forms of wearable technology. In fact, they are, but the combination of miniaturized computing power and small packaging opens up new applications.

In addition to “smart watches” and activity trackers, wearable technology could encompass medical monitoring, data synchronization, navigational assistance and even as a way to monitor the alertness of drivers and machine operators. Some companies have already used facial recognition technology to spot fatigue in machine operators, allowing them to intercede before an accident occurs.
The success of the wearable technology market depends heavily on the strength and function of glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially formulated paint product that adheres permanently to glass surfaces. Once cured, Glassprimer™ glass paint will not chip, fade or peel, and offers superior UV-resistance in both residential and commercial applications. Glassprimer™ glass paint is suitable for use in both interior and exterior settings. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint please visit our website. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Mike Mozart, via Flickr.com

GE Lighting Glass Plant To Close

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GE Lighting Glass Plant To Close

GE Lighting Glass Plant To Close

General Electric has announced that it will close its 98-year old Lighting Glass Plant in Bridgeville, PA by August 2017. The plant manufactures incandescent, halogen and linear fluorescent lighting products. According to Eric Dejohn, president of IUE-CWA Local 88640, the plant is not equipped to make more efficient lighting products. Many newer lighting products do not use glass.

Incandescent glass bulbs may be revived

Further, federal regulations have recently raised energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. In many cases, traditional glass incandescent bulbs don’t meet efficiency requirements. According to the company, revenues from incandescent lighting products have declined steadily in the past several years, as consumers switch to more efficient LED lighting products.

Keeping the Bridgeville plant open would require a major upgrade to the facility, which the company is not prepared to commit to. In addition, about three-fourths of the Bridgeville workers are eligible to retire. The plant currently operates at about 20% of its total production capacity. It was originally opened in 1907 and was purchased by General Electric in 1918. The company closed the plant for three years during the Great Depression, but resumed continuous production at the facility in 1938.

If you’re thinking that this signs the death certificate for traditional glass light bulbs, hold that thought. Earlier this year, researchers at MIT announced that they had developed a new fabrication technique for traditional glass bulbs that made them about three times more efficient than LED bulbs.

Traditional incandescents are about 5% efficient. In other words, about 95% of the energy they consume is lost as heat. LED bulbs are about 14% efficient. The experimental bulb created by MIT could be as much as 40% efficient, a whopping improvement. By encasing the filament in a special crystallized coating, they can reflect the energy that would typically be lost as heat back into the filament. This allows the bulb to draw less energy by “recycling” waste energy.

One common complaint about LED lights is that they don’t look “natural.” The MIT bulb produces a broad spectrum of light and can be used to create a variety of color temperatures.

The light’s color emissions may allow researchers to address concerns that LED lights are “too blue” and disrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythms. New research shows that exposure to blue light, especially from device screens and LED lights at night, can wreak havoc with the body’s clock. This causes sleep disruptions and other unintended health consequences.

The availability of natural light is key to creating a healthy work and living environment. Glass coatings like Glassprimer™ glass paint can help create interior environments that transmit natural light while still offering privacy. Glassprimer™ glass paint is formulated to bond permanently to glass surfaces, and will not chip, fade or peel, even when exposed to direct sunlight.

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 .
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Photo Credit: Gang Chen, MIT

Photovoltaic glass rises to the top

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Photovoltaic glass rises to the top

Photovoltaic glass rises to the top

Designers are looking for ways to reduce energy consumption in commercial spaces, and photovoltaic glass is emerging as a viable solution. Photovoltaic glass converts sunlight to electricity, and is increasingly being used to reduce energy commercial energy demands.

Apple recently announced that it will install a photovoltaic glass floor into its San Francisco retail store. The floor is able to generate as much as 90,000 kWh of electricity annually. The company’s new headquarters are also fitted with photovoltaic glass, and is expected to generate an eye-popping 5 MWh of electricity each year.

Photovoltaic glass coatings and films increase solar efficiency

The efficiency of photovoltaic glass is generally below 20%, but new research is improving the efficiency of glass, and making effective solar installations possible in more locations. Heliatek, a German manufacturer, has just completed the second phase of a large solar project in Singapore, using HeliaFilm, a film intended to collect solar energy on building façades and rooftops. The film is designed specifically for use in Asia, as a way to boost energy collection and meet growing demands in urban areas. The installed film currently covers about 200 square meters of space and generates about 110kWh of electricity. A third stage, which will apply transparent films to the existing collector.

Other research aims to improve the transparency of photovoltaic glass. Typically, photovoltaic glass is dark – nearly opaque – to improve the collection potential of glass. A new approach to photovoltaic glass involves taking advantage of the large amount of glass surface available in modern commercial buildings. If films or other coatings could improve the efficiency of energy collection and the transparency of glass, solar energy could support a significant portion of the energy that each building consumes.

Another approach to reducing energy costs is to discourage solar heat gain. Coatings like paint can accomplish this. Glassprimer™ glass paint creates a permanent bond with the surface of the glass, and resists UV radiation. At the same time, the paint can permit natural light transmission.

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: Thomas Brown, via Flickr.com

Industries turn to glass for packaging safety

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Industries turn to glass for packaging safety

Industries turn to glass for packaging safety

The issue of safety, especially among food and personal products manufacturers, is coming to the forefront. A recent study of consumers in Europe showed that more than half of respondents were worried about the safety of plastic packaging, especially as it relates to food.

Glass perceived as safe for food contact

Six out of ten consumers indicated that they were most concerned about plastic food packaging. Nearly half of consumers expressed reservations about the safety of metal food containers, primarily metal beverage cans. In contrast, only 8% of study participants were concerned about contamination from glass containers. Consumers specifically cited food contamination and chemical contamination from leaching as major concerns. More than 8 of 10 consumers think that contamination from packaging could pose a risk to human health.

61% consumers said that they trusted glass as a packaging material. This is up from 48% of consumers who said they trusted glass as a food packaging material in 2010.

The preference of consumers for glass packaging comes at an inconvenient crossroads: fewer efforts are being made to recycle container glass at a time when certain producers are looking to increase the amount of glass packaging to allay consumer concerns about safety.

Glass is inert, which means that it can “contain” virtually anything without interacting with it. That makes it a good choice for packaging from a safety perspective. Glass is also infinitely recyclable; it can be reformed an endless number of times without any significant degradation in quality or safety.

Glass is also attractive from an ecological perspective: when recycled, it reduces the amount of energy required to reform it into a new container. When it is discarded, it does not interact with the environment in a negative way.

New studies show that even organic products can be a source of known endocrine disruptors like bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates because these products pick up chemicals from their plastic packaging. These and other chemicals may also be present in other materials that may come into contact with food – like countertops, for example.

This makes glass a highly desirable surface in the kitchen and bathroom. Additionally, glass is easy to clean and sanitize, and can stand up to most household cleaning agents.

If you’d like more information about incorporating glass into your kitchen, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, which is specially designed to bond with glass surfaces, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Scott Atwood, via Flickr.com

New glass could improve solar cell efficiency

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New glass could improve solar cell efficiency

New glass could improve solar cell efficiency

Researchers at ITMO University in St. Petersburg, Russia have developed a new glass that emits visible light when in the presence of ultraviolet radiation. UV radiation normally counteracts the performance of solar cells, and diminishes the practical lifetime of the cell.

Glass can convert UV radiation to visible light

This glass could intercept UV radiation and convert it to visible frequencies. The converted UV radiation could then actually improve the efficiency of the collector. Currently, solar collectors have variable efficiency ratings, but some collectors are only about 20% efficient. This glass could increase the efficiency of lower performing collectors by one-third.

According to the researchers, the glass is easy to produce. In addition to improving the performance of solar collectors, the glass could also extend the life of both solar cells and white LEDs.

White LEDs are currently made by coating blue LEDs with yellow phosphor. The yellow phosphor doesn’t age well, and often causes the LED to overheat. The significant rise in temperature destroys the phosphor layer and causes the LED to fail. This is particularly apparent in large LEDs – those used for public lighting on streets, airports and in stadiums.

Using the technology developed at ITMO University, photoluminescent particles can be embedded directly into glass. This improves both the durability and performance of large LED lights. Typically, large LED lights must be replaced every 6 months. This glass technology, which eliminates the LED’s main failure mode, could extend the life of LEDs to as much as 5 years.

Technological advances in glass and glass production can significantly enhance energy efficiency. Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be tinted to match virtually any major paint manufacturer’s paint palette. In addition, the paintprovides superior UV resistance without sacrificing performance.

If you’re looking for ways to control sunlight and reduce heat gain, please consider the advantages of Glassprimer™ glass paint. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory , via Flickr.com

Glass insulation and new technologies

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Glass insulation and new technologies

Glass insulation and new technologies

Glass has been used in building windows for hundreds of years. Single pane windows were the standard for most of this time, but in the quest for better energy efficiency, double-pane and triple-pane windows have been brought to the market.

Research on glass insulation shows promise

Double pane windows have two sheets of glass with a single gap between them. The gap is often filled with an inert gas like argon, and tightly sealed. The gas increases the insulating value of the glass and helps reduce both energy costs and energy losses. Double-pane windows are readily available for both new construction and as replacement windows.

Under the assumption that two panes of glass are better than one, triple pane windows feature three panes of glass and two air gaps. As with double-pane windows, the gaps are filled with inert gas and tightly sealed to prevent leakage. Are triple-pane windows really better?

Triple-pane windows are heavier than their double-pane counterparts, but they’re about 20%-30% better insulators than their double-pane cousins. The weight of the window may not be of great concern, because once the window is installed, it’s weight isn’t really relevant. The added weight does increase the cost of transportation, however. The increased insulating value does have significant benefits. With regard to noise insulation, triple-pane glass doesn’t provide significantly better noise insulation that double pane glass does.

There is some industry research being conducted in Europe on the value of quadruple-pane glass windows. Quad-paned windows have four sheets of glass and three insulating spaces. Typically, the four sheets of glass have a single-sided anti-reflective coating, and the inner and outer panes are made of low-emissivity glass. These windows aren’t in production, but they’re being evaluated on a cost-benefit basis.

In addition to quadruple-pane glass windows, some research is being done on multi-pane thin glass that is vacuum sealed. The thin glass reduces the weight of the finished window, and the vacuum sealing helps improve the insulating value of the window. Building a thin-glass, vacuum sealed window is tricky, because the seals need to be robust enough to last over time. Experimental windows using vacuum-sealing haven’t proven to last very long, which makes them unlikely candidates for production.

Currently, triple-pane windows offer the best insulation properties of any window product on the market for residential applications. Glass with low-emissivity and anti-reflective coatings offers significant advantages in commercial applications.

One inexpensive option to reduce heat gain is glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is designed to bond permanently with glass, and can help reduce solar heat gain, while still permitting light transmission. Glassprimer™ glass paint also offers superior UV resistance, so it won’t chip, fade or peel, even in direct sunlight.

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: Raul Lieberwirth , via Flickr.com

Cardinal Glass To Build Advanced Glass Facility

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Cardinal Glass To Build Advanced Glass Facility

Cardinal Glass To Build Advanced Glass Facility

Cardinal Insulating Glass (Cardinal IG), a subsidiary of Cardinal Glass Industries, will build a 250,000 square foot advanced manufacturing facility in Buckman, AZ. Cardinal was founded in Minneapolis, MN in 1962, and has more than three dozen glass manufacturing facilities in the United States.

The Buckman facility will join other Cardinal IG manufacturing plants in Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The company’s research and development firm is located in Minneapolis.

As a company, Cardinal specializes in producing energy-efficient windows and doors for residential use. According to the company, energy savings from its annual production eliminates the need for 3.5 coal-fired power plants. Additionally, use of the company’s energy efficient glass products virtually neutralizes the company’s carbon footprint from manufacturing.

In addition to manufacturing low-e glass, the company also manufactures spacer systems for double-pane and triple-pane windows, gas-insulated windows and films designed to protect glass in transit. Additionally, the company manufactures coatings designed to reduce solar heat gain in buildings, decrease dirt accumulation on glass, and resist the impact of severe weather events like hurricanes.

Controlling heat gain in buildings (both residential and commercial) is critical to reducing energy consumption. Currently, residential construction is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States. To meet reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the need for additional power plants, residential consumers will be encouraged to reduce their energy consumption.

By installing energy efficient glass in windows and doors, and by making use of glass coatings to reduce solar heat gain, residential consumers can reduce their energy bills and make their homes more comfortable.

Glassprimer™ glass paint offers superior UV resistance and performance when applied to glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially engineered to bond permanently to glass surfaces, and will not peel, chip or fade. Glassprimer™ glass paint can help reduce solar heat gain without significantly reducing transmissible light, and performs well in kitchens and bathrooms.

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: Stuart Rankik, via Flickr.com

Study shows glass would benefit workers

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Study shows glass would benefit workers

Study shows glass would benefit workers

A recent study by Sage Glass shows that most workers do not have adequate access to daylight in their workspaces. Additionally, workers in the survey characterized their workplaces as noisy and uncomfortable temperature-wise. The survey involved more than 400 office workers. Many of the issues the survey participants identified could be improved by changing the window glass in their office spaces.

Glass improvements could make employees happier

More than one-third of workers in the survey said that they had no access to windows near their workspace, and only two-thirds of those with access to windows had any ability to control incoming light with blinds or curtains. Even with limited control over daylight, 5 out of 6 workers said they would prefer to work near a window.

Two-thirds of workers with access to windows said that sunlight improves their mood while at work. Workers also reported that they believe that access to sunlight while at work improved their energy level, reduced their stress and made them more productive.

About half of the workers who had access to windows in their workspace reported that they had difficulty with glare, and reported headaches, eye pain, difficulty with concentration and lowered productivity as the result of glare. Survey respondents also reported that their office environment was often too hot or too cold, too dry, and too noisy.

The survey underscores the importance of glass in the workspace. Increased use of glass in office interiors can provide better access to daylight throughout the workday. In addition, better attention to controlling incoming daylight can help reduce glare, prevent excessive heat gain, reduce heat loss and provide passive humidity control in the workspace.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can provide light control by allowing daylight to pass through, while preventing ultraviolet and infrared light frequencies from increasing interior temperatures. Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly cost effective, providing coverage for about $1 per square foot.

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: Steven Mileham , via Flickr.com

New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

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New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

If you’re planning to visit China’s newly opened Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and the Grand Canyon that surrounds it, here’s a quick travel tip: “Don’t.”

The company that operates the bridge shut the attraction down earlier today because it is “too popular.” The Zhangjiajie Bridge, which just opened on August 20, has proven to be too hard for visitors to resist. The bridge is designed to accommodate about 8,000 guests per day, but record crowds, estimated at 10 times the bridge’s daily maximum, have traveled to the Zhangjiajie National Park to see, and presumably cross, the bridge.

No word on when glass bridge will reopen

Company officials closed the bridge effective immediately, but rest assured that the closure isn’t permanent. Officials want to strategize and more properly prepare for the enormous number of visitors. Aside from the obvious long lines and the disappointment, visitors have been greeted with mounds of trash, no place to park and few amenities, including bottled water. Interest in the bridge has also spawned renewed interest in the rest of the park.

Officials made clear that there is nothing wrong with the bridge, and the attraction was closed to better allow them to manage the large number of visitors. They stress that there are no structural safety concerns with the bridge, but rather, they want to take a second shot at the logistics of moving such a large number of visitors through the park.

The bridge is the longest, highest glass bridge in the world, stretching about 1,400 feet across and rising about 1,000 feet in the air. Visitors might recognize the spectacular Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and National Park because it served as the inspiration for some of the visuals in the movie “Avatar.”

Park officials had initially suggested that the glass bridge be closed on September 5, but the company that manages the attraction opted for an immediate shutdown to begin making improvements. Planned improvements include parking lot expansion, changes to the ticket-booking system and improvements to the company’s customer service approach.

The company has not yet said when it plans to reopen the glass bridge, but is working diligently to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered coating that bonds permanently to glass and other impervious surfaces. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please see the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .