Researchers Have Developed a New Kind of 'Unbreakable' Glass

https://interestingengineering.com/ ^ | Oct 01, 2021 | Christopher McFadden

[Larry Lucido]

Kramerica? Did Kramer get his intern back?

[mad_as_he$$]

;-)

[P.O.E.]

Nick Lowe - "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass"

[Fresh Wind]

I’m waiting for slow glass.

[mabarker1]

Back in the day I was fortunate enough to know a father & son that were scientific glass blowers that used to make laboratory glassware for a major university science laboratory and had retired.

They would make things for close friends and I had several different kinds of of smokeware from globe tabletop pipe to a glass joint and an antifreeze tube, the prototype that I designed. It was about a foot long and had a 25mm inner tube with a 50mm outer tube with ring seals at each end and the bowl was just a pinch sized one. It was a carburetor type with finger sized vent opposite end of the mouthpiece. The space between the two tubes was filled with antifreeze so it could be stored in the freezer. It would cool off the smoke as it filled the inner tube. One of the coolest things was getting to watch it being made.

They both have passed away now but they made some really neat things.

[Jonty30]

Being amorphous, glass is pretty slow.

[VRW Conspirator]

Thanks, algore. Now I going to have that freakin song in my head.

[Getready]

One may theorize that Tiberius might have wanted to learn the secret of the glass and have cornered the market. He could have 3 sources of wealth. But then again, he was, presumably, human.

[null and void]

That will see the light of other days...

[Fresh Wind]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_of_Other_Days

[Claud]

Also like typical politicians, Tiberius was a massive pervert. Late in his reign he basically retired to his “pleasure palace” on the island of Capri.

[Jonty30]

Got it. I understand now what was meant.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

I could see someone inserting a glass tube up Schumer’s urethra and then...breaking it. Never mind...

[_longranger81]

In case this is inconvenient to one’s purpose, simply invoke the magical incantation, “Mollusks are racist! Mollusks are racist!” 1 1/2 million times. Fixes everything.

[chopperk]

What’s new about that? Unbreakable glass has been around for 30 years..........

[MortMan]

Let me know when transparent aluminum is invented (a la Star Trek)

[algore]

Aluminium oxynitride (marketed under the name ALON by Surmet Corporation[3]) is a transparent ceramic composed of aluminium, oxygen and nitrogen.

Aluminium oxynitride is optically transparent (≥ 80%) in the near-ultraviolet, visible, and midwave-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

It is four times as hard as fused silica glass, 85% as hard as sapphire, and nearly 115% as hard as magnesium aluminate spinel. Since it has a cubic spinel structure, it can be fabricated to transparent windows, plates, domes, rods, tubes, and other forms using conventional ceramic powder processing techniques.

Aluminium oxynitride is the hardest polycrystalline transparent ceramic available commercially.[2] Because of its relatively low weight, distinctive optical and mechanical properties, and resistance to oxidation or radiation, it shows promise for applications such as bulletproof, blast-resistant, and optoelectronic windows.

[4] Aluminium oxynitride-based armour has been shown to stop multiple armour-piercing projectiles of up to .50 BMG.

[5] Aluminium oxynitride is commercially available in sizes as large as 18-by-35-inch (460 mm × 890 mm; 46 cm × 89 cm) monolithic windows

[Hebrews 11:6]

Several decades ago I heard a slightly different version. A glass-maker produced clear window-panes, which no one else could match. So, his competitors complained to the emperor, who had him executed.

[mowowie]

You too?

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] Apparently, a form of flexible glass existed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. So the story goes, as told by Petronius, a glassmaker brought a drinking bowl made of the material before the Emperor.

According to historical accounts, when the bowl was tested for its strength, it dented rather than shattered. What's more, the inventor swore he was the only person who knew how this miracle was achieved.

Tiberius had the man executed, fearing that the glass would devalue gold and silver because it might be more valuable. [/snip]

I've got to hold an ice pack on my head for a while, I bumped it when I fell off the chair laughing.