SCIENCE

Japan unveils 'nearly unbreakable' glass design

New super glass is formed on aluminium oxide – alumina.
November 9, 2015
Japanese scientists from the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science have recently announced the creation of a super strong and almost unbreakable glass.
The new design is a game changer for the construction of windows for buildings and vehicles, as well as computer, tablet and smart phone screens. Buildings could be protected against natural disasters, cars would become safer, and phone screens would survive even the heaviest of drops. And the magic ingredient for a crack-free iPhone screen? Alumina.
While traditional glass is based on silicon dioxide, the main component of sand, the new super glass is formed on aluminium oxide, or in other words, alumina.
Although the idea of using alumina to bolster the strength of glass is nothing new, previous attempts to up the amount of alumina in glass would result in crystallization when produced in a container, thereby disrupting the formation of the glass. To avoid this problem, researchers ditched the container and crushed alumina and tantalum oxide (commonly used in automatic electronics, cell phones and other electrics) and used an aerodynamic levitation furnace to levitate their components in the air and melt them together with lasers, forming a transparent highly elastic super glass composed of 50% alumina.
Researchers measured the strength, hardness and resistance of the new glass design when pushed on something else, discovering that while it wasn't entirely unbreakable it has twice the strength of normal glass and rivals that of iron and steel.

We will establish a way to mass produce the new material shortly [and] are looking to commercialize the technique within 5 years.

Atsunobu Masuno
Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo
This is great news for those out there with a chronic inability to control the trajectory of their smartphone, and while at the moment only small quantities of such glass is being produced, the Japanese scientists have promised to bring the design onto the market on a larger scale.
According to Atsunobu Masuno, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, his team "will establish a way to mass produce the new material shortly [and] are looking to commercialize the technique within 5 years". Thanks to the Japanese breakthrough, alumina is set to play a huge role in making our infrastructure and technology safer and stronger.