LionGlass: New Type of Glass That’s Greener and 10x More Damage Resistant

Scitech Daily ^ | AUGUST 14, 2023 | By PENN STATE

[Mean Daddy]

Suppose the company will wave patent rights? You know, to save the earth.

[imardmd1]

The study of glass falls under the more general discipline of Ceramics, in which I hold a Bachelor degree in Engineering. It took 155 credit hours, as compared to 120 hours for a Bachelor's degree in almost any of the Liberal arts. And a defensible thesis was required for graduation for those credentials. Mine was published in the very scholarly Journal of the American Ceramic Society (JACS). And I have patents for the glass developed while obtaining it.

Ceramics is the basic use of inorganic oxide materials which can be combined in thousands of different useful ways. Within that framework, glasses are materials that can be smelted together into a fluid whose viscosity upon cooling becomes so great that it cannot crystallize, but achieves such a high value as to be practically considered as being a solid.

My doctoral thesis was titled "The Vibrational Spectra of High-Purity and Chemically-Substituted Vitreous Silica," submitted fifty years ago.

Mauro, the chief innovator of the "LION" glass was an illustrious inventor at Corning Glass, became chief editor of JACS, and has been appointed to the faculty of Penn State in its renowned school of Ceramics. Do not doubt that the LI in "Lion" refers to the lithium content that replaces the sodium in the glass. Corning, of course, has the century-long history of high-temperature commercial glasses, especially Pyrex and Vycor. Vycor is approximately 96% silica and 4% boron trioxide, but unlike pure fused silica, it can be readily manufactured in a variety of shapes.

[Rockingham]

The cost of a new class of material in full commercial production is hard to predict in the earliest stages of development. Lower energy cost is a promising start though. My guess is that the key is adding a relatively cheap new compound into the glass making process, which is why the press release is so sparse on the details. Their best strategy is to get the first round of patents and quickly refine the production process with a commercial partner that has the cash and international political and legal heft to defend the IP involved.

[Blue Collar Christian]

“named after Penn State’s Nittany Lion mascot”