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Tag Archive for: glass

Bell Works Builds Largest PV Glass Skylight

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Bell Works Builds Largest PV Skylight

Bell Works, the successor of the former Bell Labs, will be the recipient of the largest photovoltaic glass skylight in the United States. Somerset Development is in the process of renovating the former Bell Labs site, a 2-million square-foot space. When it is complete, the space will host offices, retail, healthcare, dining, recreation, a public library and hotel space.

The complex is located in Holmdel, NJ. The PV system will consist of more than 3,200 skylights and will cover 60,000 square feet of the building’s iconic atrium. The challenge is to renovate the space without interfering with the building’s historical design. The original Bell Labs building was designed by architect Eero Saarinen. Read more

Glass bottle-to-bottle recycling facility set to open

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Glass bottle-to-bottle recycling facility set to open

Colorado has taken another step forward in its effort to achieve zero-waste status. Later this month, Momentum Recycling, a Utah company, will open a new bottle-to-bottle recycling plant. The plant will take in container glass and offer a high-quality source for new containers for local bottle manufacturers.

The facility hopes to divert some of the state’s more than 300,000 tons of container glass that currently gets routed to the landfill. Colorado does not have a deposit law on bottles, which means that the state’s average glass recycling rates are on the low end of the spectrum. States with container deposits recycle as much as 60 percent of the container glass in their waste streams. By comparison, Colorado recycles less than 25% of its container glass today. Read more

Eiffel Tower Gets New Glass Wall

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Eiffel Tower Gets New Glass Wall

By the end of 2017, the Eiffel Tower in Paris will be surrounded by a 2.5 meter bulletproof glass wall, but many Parisians believe the wall is a mistake. The idea behind the structure is to protect the tower from terrorist attacks. The idea works, but people are finding the design a little hard to swallow.

The city is paying for the $20 million project, but residents view it as a psychological and philosophical affront. The mayor and city council approved the wall in an attempt to address safety concerns for the 6 million tourists that visit the tower each year. Read more

Woman hopes glass straws will eliminate plastic

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Woman hopes glass straws will eliminate plastic

Woman hopes glass straws will eliminate plastic

A Michigan woman is hoping to eliminate plastic drinking straws by providing an ultrastrong glass substitute. Daedra Surowiec, of Milford, MI envisioned glass as a way to eliminate some of the millions of plastic drinking straws that end up in landfills annually. She began creating glass drinking straws after taking a class at a local art glass facility.

Glass drinking straws aren’t exactly an easy sell. Prospective buyers are worried that the straw will break while in use. In reality, Surowiec says that of the 10,000 straws her company, Strawesome, produces each year, only about 3% break. The company replaces broken straws at no cost, but Surowiec says that the major culprit behind breakage is impact damage from being dropped. Read more

Identifying metallic glass failures

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Research opens up metallic glass

Research opens up metallic glass

Researchers at Rice University have developed a calculation model that may explain where and why metallic glasses break. Scientists have long known that glasses form stress bands that make glass more prone to breakage in certain spots than others. The same is true of metallic glass – a hybrid glass compound that creates a super-strong material that may have unusual properties usually reserved for metals.

Knowing how and where a metallic glass might break gives engineers an advantage when designing parts that need to be ultra-durable – such as parts for a satellite or space vehicle. Metallic glasses typically deform under stress, but they don’t usually break. Their durability is what makes them ideal for extreme environments, so knowing how, why or when a part may break is critical.

Although the researchers are especially interested in the behavior of metallic glass, their findings could be applied to non-metallic glasses, too. One reason that the glass forms shear bands is that the molecular arrangement of glass (and metallic glass) isn’t crystalline. The amorphous structure of glass allows molecules to continue to move, even when glass has achieved an apparently solid state.

In most cases, when the glass isn’t under stress, molecular movement is imperceptibly slight. When the glass is stressed, however, the molecular movement increases notably. The areas where molecular movement is the greatest coincides with the development of the shear bands in the glass. The shear bands are ultimately the areas of the glass that fail, causing breakage.

The research means that scientists and engineers will be able to more easily calculate the actual strength of glass and metallic glasses quickly. That information can help materials scientists calculate the fitness of a particular glass formulation for a specific application without having to rely on trial-and-error testing.

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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: Hugh Dutton Associés, via Flickr.com

Archaeologists find 2,000 year old Polish glass factory

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Archaeologists find 2,000 year old Polish glass factory

Archaeologists find 2,000 year old Polish glass factory

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year old workshop that apparently produced glass and metal products. The site, on Mount Grojec in south central Poland, contained furnaces, glass beads, glass making equipment, grinders and waste glass. According to the researchers, the factory took in raw glass and metal from elsewhere and created finished goods at the site.

The team plans to examine the raw glass for clues about its origins. The researchers, from the University of Wroclaw, suspect that the materials could have come from as far away as the Mediterranean. The find is surprising because archaeologists had previously thought that no glass making facilities existed in Poland prior to the Middle Ages.

Proof that glass and metal were worked extensively in the area changes the way archaeologists think about the societies that occupied the areas at the time. Evidence of human habitation in the area dates back to the 5th and 6th centuries, BC, but until the discovery of the glass furnaces, researchers had not been able to determine that significant economic activity had taken place there.

Archaeologists found large quantities of glass products near the furnaces. Included in the finds were colored beads and cracked objects that had been abandoned by their makers due to production defects. Crucibles at the site are believed to have been used for smelting bronze. In addition, the archaeologists found grinders, which would have been used to make finished goods.

Also in the area surrounding the glass furnaces were a few buildings that appeared to be homes. Despite the finds, the archaeologists know little about the people who inhabited the area during the time the glass factory was operational. The initial area was excavated from 2012-2014, but the researchers will publish their findings this spring.
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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: Pawel Kabanski, via Flickr.com

Could regulations spell the end of glass buildings?

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New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

New glass coating can keep greenhouses cooler

Regulations directed toward reducing energy consumption could spell an end to the glass buildings that have dominated the landscape architecture since the end of World War II. Glass façades are almost standard elements in building design today, but they don’t provide much cover when it comes to energy efficiency.

In addition to not being a great thermal insulator, glass façades often increase the amount of energy a building consumes in the summer, primarily by increasing the temperature inside the building. Increased internal temperatures mean increased use of air conditioning, and an increased load on power plants.

Proposed changes to Canada’s National Energy Code for Buildings that could take effect in 2017 could change the landscape for modern architecture. A new formula for calculating thermal bridging and a requirement for heat and energy recovery could mean that glass façades will no longer measure up for Canadian construction.

If adopted, the regulations wouldn’t actually prohibit the use of glass, but it would require more expensive glass in order to conform to the new rules. Commercial construction costs are always significant, so seeking less expensive or more readily conforming materials may lead to a change in building design.

Thermal bridging is at the center of one of the proposed changes. The term “thermal bridge” refers to areas of a building that have a much higher rate of heat transfer than materials around it. Without specialized coatings or formulations, glass has a limited ability to prevent the transfer of heat into or out of a building. Glass façades and windows are often the primary route for heat transfer. Under current rules, this heat transfer is calculated using a particular formula that many experts believe understates the amount of heat transfer due to glass.

The new regulations would require an extensive thermal analysis to identify and reduce heat transfer between the building envelope and the outside environment. Making a building compliant with new regulations could mean reducing the amount of glass and other low-quality insulators, and diminishing heat transfer as much as possible.
Other proposed changes to the code include regulations that would require minimum energy performance improvements for a building’s roof, windows and doors. The public comment period on the code changes closed on December 9, and the updated code is expected to be published sometime in 2017.

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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: Government of Prince Edward Island, via Flickr.com

Is glass a solid after all?

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Is glass a solid after all?

Is glass a solid after all?

For years, scientists have argued about the nature of glass, since it has characteristics of both a liquid and a solid. The molecular structure of glass is unlike any other solid. The molecular structure of every other solid is organized in a specific, orderly way; the molecular structure of glass is completely random. In fact, if liquid glass molecules were able to organize in the same orderly way as every other solid, the resultant substance wouldn’t be glass.

Now some scientists are looking at hardened glass in a different way, and that allows them to reach the conclusion that hardened glass is, in fact, a solid. Molecules in liquids flow easily over each other. They have no specific order. One of the traditionally accepted reasons that glass “can’t be” a solid is that without that ordered molecular structure, cooled glass molecules continue to “flow” just as liquid molecules would do.

Cooled glass molecules don’t flow easily, like they do when they’re heated. They move almost imperceptibly, but they do move. Researchers at the University of Bristol and Kyoto University worked together to model the movement of glass molecules at very low temperatures.

They discovered that at extremely low temperatures, the molecules in glass organize themselves in geometric shapes – not quite the crystalline structure that characterizes all other solids – but they did organize into a predictable pattern. They also determined that given enough time in the right conditions, the geometric patterns would grow to encompass all regions of the glass. At that point, the material would be considered a true solid.

The solid nature of glass was actually predicted by a researcher at the University of Bristol in 1952, but at the time, the theory was impossible to prove. Advances in microscopy and computer modeling allowed the research team to confirm the 64-year-old theory.

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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: frankeleon, via Flickr.com

Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

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Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

Glass can tell a forensic examiner a lot

Modern forensics can tell investigators a lot about a crime scene. DNA testing, blood spatter analysis, footwear impressions and ballistics can all help an investigator determine what happened and who might be responsible for a crime. Add glass examination to the list of tools available to a forensic examiner.

Forensic glass examination? As it turns out, broken glass can reveal a lot. While glass might not identify whodunit (unless the guilty party left fingerprints behind), the way a glass breaks can reveal a lot about how the break occurred, and what might have (or must have) happened at the time the glass broke.

For example, the way broken glass lands can reveal the direction from which the breaking force came. Stress fractures that eventually break a piece of glass can help investigators determine the height at which a bullet or other projectile was fired, the force needed to break the glass, and the direction from which the projectile came. This information can support other findings at a crime scene.

Further, glass can be examined and compared microscopically. That’s helpful because small fragments of glass can be transferred from a scene to a victim, or to the perpetrator. Being able to prove that a small sliver of glass connects a person to a crime scene can be exceptionally valuable. Typically, glass is produced regionally, so glass from different regions has different characteristics. Forensic examination can reveal the region from which the glass originated. That can also be helpful in placing a perpetrator or victim in the presence of glass that may have a unique composition.

Like other forensic techniques, forensic glass examination has become more sophisticated, and is increasingly being used to confirm other findings at crime scenes.

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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: Jasper Nance, via Flickr.com

Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

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Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

Electricity generating coating applied to flexible glass

SolarWindow Technologies announced last month that it will begin applying its electricity generating coating to ultra-thin flexible glass. According to the company, the market for its coated glass could exceed $25 billion annually.

Flexible glass has applications in a variety of industries, including automotive, military and aerospace. Flexible glass is preferred in certain applications because it combines flexibility that’s characteristic of plastics with durability and scratch resistance that’s associated with glass.

Electricity generation is critical in certain applications, like aerospace and military. Devices in those industries may have specific power requirements and may need to operate in areas where additional power sources aren’t available.

In addition to having application in challenging environments, flexible glass that also generates electricity could prove useful in electrochromic windows, transportation applications and “smart” buildings.

According to the company, the return on investment could be achieved in as little as one year for buildings of at least 50 stories. SolarWindow also says that its electricity-generating coatings can generate more electricity than a conventional rooftop solar array.

The company isn’t limiting its coatings to ultra-thin flexible glass. The company also envisions markets for coated flat and large-format glasses. The electricity-generating coating is not yet on the market, but testing for the coating has progressed well. To date, the coating appears to be able to survive high-pressure, high-temperature production methods. That’s good news because those methods are the most common mass-production methods for applying surface coatings.

Glassprimer™ glass paint doesn’t generate electricity, but it does provide a stable, durable coating that’s designed especially for glass and other impervious surfaces that typically don’t accept paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint works at the nanoscale level to make a permanent bond with the glass surface. Once cured, the paint will not chip, fade or peel, even in humid conditions or in direct sunlight.

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. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. 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: Ted Lappin, via Flickr.com