MIT Researchers Invent 'Super Glass' 199
redletterdave writes "On Thursday, researchers at MIT announced a breakthrough in glass-making technology, which basically involves a new way to create surface textures on glass to eliminate all of the drawbacks of glass, including unwanted reflections and glare. The research team wanted to build glass that could be adaptable to any environment: Their 'multifunctional' glass is not only crystal clear, but it also causes water droplets to bounce right off its surface, 'like tiny rubber balls.' The glass is self-cleaning, anti-reflective, and superhydrophobic. The invention has countless applications, including TV screens, as well as smartphone and tablet displays that benefit from the self-cleaning ability of the glass by resisting moisture and contamination by sweat."
Not so perfect (Score:5, Funny)
But can you build a whale tank with it?
Re:Not so perfect (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Not so perfect (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, we got that as well. I think it's called Aluminium oxynitride [wikipedia.org]. $15 a square inch. Fun stuff. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
its a startrek reference (Voyage Home??) oh btw i think you meant Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds not Latter day Saints
Re: (Score:2)
No, but now with this, you can CLEARLY see the glass is half FULL.
Re: (Score:2)
Huh? It's not like balls of water are going to go shooting off at high speed- it's probably more like the surface of the tank won't have any liquid sticking, and when the tank gets full enough, the fluid just takes on the tank's shape. If anything, given the corrosive nature of many liquids, its possible that subjecting the tank to too much pressure could result in friction from the liq
Re: (Score:3)
Eliminates *all* the drawbacks to glass? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Eliminates *all* the drawbacks to glass? (Score:5, Funny)
Lets say you made glass so durable that it wouldn't fracture when hit with a hammer, then you might not want to use that glass in an emergency box which says,"In case of emergency, smash glass"
That would only be a drawback if this new "super" glass, when synthesized, automatically replaces all existing glass. Or somehow makes it impossible to make regular glass. Also, most of those have been replaced with "OPEN in the case of emergency." Like as in the fire extinguisher is behind a door and you can just open it. Much less dramatic, which is, I suppose, a drawback. You'll still look like a hero putting out the fire, but without blood dripping down your arm while doing so, you'll lose a bit of heroicness.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean like plexiglass is so durable it won't fracture when hit with a hammer - but when grooved, breaks with a modest tug on a bit of string?
I.E. they'd no more use such glass in an emergency box without proper preparation than they would use current, bulletproof, glasses.
Re:Eliminates *all* the drawbacks to glass? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Eliminates *all* the drawbacks to glass? (Score:5, Funny)
And I would run into my patio door far more often. Damn clean glass.
Yes, but your face wouldn't leave a greasy smear.
Re: (Score:2)
To me, it sounds like a very bold claim to eliminate all the drawbacks from anything.
TFA says "to eliminate all of the drawbacks of glass". I guess it means "drawbacks of (current) glass". It says nothing about new drawbacks. Let's suppose Super Glass(tm) is deadly radioactive. You may say that's a drawback, but is not a drawback of current glass.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Lets say you made glass so durable that it wouldn't fracture when hit with a hammer, then you might not want to use that glass in an emergency box which says,"In case of emergency, smash glass"
That reminds me of Starship Titanic (the game). At one point you have to break some emergency glass to get a long stick, if you keep breaking the glass the ship informs you that it has now replaced it with unbreakable emergency glass to stop you. Must have used this stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
From the summery
Is that like springy, wintery or autumny?
Vehicle Use? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
If you could incorporate this in vehicles windshields, you'd have the same benefits
I don't know - windshields are made of tempered and laminated glass, which doesn't shatter on impact (it contains a layer of plastic bonded between two sheets of glass; this layer keeps pieces together so you get spider web cracking instead of pieces falling off) and which breaks in small chunks (as opposed to sharp shards flying all over the place). To temper glass you have to treat it with heat, which may destroy the surface cones the MIT process describes.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps it could be an exterior piece of glass that was resin bonded to a conventional tempered glass windshield?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You mean if they somehow jump over the iron spikes in the front of the car?
What you mean what iron spikes?
Re:Vehicle Use? (Score:5, Funny)
Easy. Have little sprayers to get them wet just before they strike your windshield.
Re: (Score:2)
this would be a dream for film-makers wanting to shoot people in cars, but not wanting to use polarizing filters which make the female star's hair less impressive...
Re: (Score:3)
Great, now we're worrying about murderous film-makers . . .
Re:Vehicle Use? (Score:4, Informative)
Ever tried to break windshield glass? It doesn't. That's the whole point of windshield glass. If you watch the videos of rescuers pulling folks out through windshields, the windshield itself has been removed or pried to the side. Smashed, crazed, but still in effectively one piece.
Re: (Score:2)
What about all the stories about people who were not wearing a seat-belt, and who flew out of the car through the windshield?
I don't own a car, I've never been involved in such types of accidents - so I'm genuinely curious. Perhaps windshields are designed to break from the inside, but not the outside?
Re: (Score:2)
What about all the stories about people who were not wearing a seat-belt, and who flew out of the car through the windshield?
I don't have direct experience with this, but I have heard of people with their head stuck in the windshield where the emergency responders needed to cut the windshield out around the victim to extricate them.
I have also heard numerous reports of passengers ejected from vehicles, but I suspect they mostly come out the side windows. The only one I saw was a partial rejection from the drivers window. No need to describe the results but they were a good argument for wearing seat belts.
Re: (Score:3)
They don't actually fly through the windshield. They take it with them. It's messy.
Re: (Score:3)
They're hard to break from the inside, too. I was driving a 1974 Gremlin at 50 mph in 1976 and had a left front tire blow out and was in the wrong lane watching a 3/4 ton pickup truck coming at me doing 70. No seat belt, the steering wheel was bent where I hung on to it, the dash was bent where my shoulder hit it, and my face was swollen badly from hitting the windshield. It didn't break. They're designed to be as hard to break as possible and to be the least dangerous when broken possible.
Re:Vehicle Use? (Score:5, Funny)
No wipers? This is sure to run afoul of the powerful Brotherhood of Parking Lot Leaflet Stuffers union. BoPLLS will be drafting model legislation to ban its use.
Re: (Score:2)
No wipers? This is sure to run afoul of the powerful Brotherhood of Parking Lot Leaflet Stuffers union. BoPLLS will be drafting model legislation to ban its use.
I doubt it, have you ever used that rain-x stuff that makes the water bead on your windshield? When I did, I found the beads of water to be very distracting while driving.
Re:Vehicle Use? (Score:5, Informative)
That's funny, I am used to using rain-x. When it wears and I need to start using the wipers again, I find the huge chunks of metal and rubber whooshing past my face to be very distracting while driving.
It's all down to what you are used to :)
Plus Rain-X does a much better job of giving you good visibility in seriously heavy rain (imo).
Re: (Score:2)
They will just stick them in the separation between the car's door and the chassis.
At least that's what a few of them started to do around these parts. I guess they figured out that it was annoying people (i.e. their possible customers) when it rains and the flier sticks to your window.
I'm still hoping that they come to the conclusion that putting trash in my car is always anoying, but like spam, that won't happen until it stops being effective (and I doubt it will).
Re: (Score:2)
Forget tablets & phones... (Score:5, Interesting)
If this is as hydrophobic as they claim, I want a windshield made of the stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
Would that even work?
Re:Forget tablets & phones... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm.... Idea - hydrophobic beer bottles.
Would that even work?
No, 'cause then *all* of it would squirt out when you pop the top.
Re: (Score:2)
Would make shotgunning a beer so much simpler to have it forced down (or even up) your throat under pressure. ;) No need to worry about swallowing slowing you down.
Re: (Score:2)
You can do that today: Just hold your nose, drop a Mentos into the bottle, plug the end of the bottle into your mouth, and hope the muscles at the back of your throat pick the right pipe for the stuff to be forced down...
Or, you know: Drink a shot. Easier, faster, cleaner, more compact, and (if cost efficiency is a primary concern) often cheaper.
Re: (Score:2)
Instant Diet Coke + Mentos effect. Great for practical jokes, not so great for beer drinking.
Re: (Score:3)
Great for practical jokes, not so great for beer drinking.
WTF are you talking about? This might be the greatest advancement in human history in hybridizing "beer bong" and "drinking from the fire hose". EVAR.
Re: (Score:2)
It could be the basis for self pouring beer technology.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Would YOU like to drink a beer that had been in a Hydrophobic bottle for days if not weeks? Imagine if your arachnophobic girlfriend was kept in a spider-lined room for days. Would you like to be there when the door was opened?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
If its as hydrophobic as they claim, I want a glass bottom boat made with it. It'd be awesome- just like a mag-lev, but on water!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can see it now... (Score:2)
Re:I can see it now... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
This played in my head right after reading that.
Noooooo (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I see a market for plastic coatings that people can put on their TV's to give them that glossy new look.
Sounds Relative (Score:2, Interesting)
So... does this mean our children will never have the experience of looking out the a window covered in drops of water on a rainy day? I know it's a stupid little thing, but there is something oddly therapeutic and beautiful about it. Almost sad that it might become a thing of the past.
Cool...but a light diode would be neater (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
IN THIS HOUSE WE OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!!! - Homer Simpson
And here's some more text to get around the caps filter. :)
Alas, (Score:2)
"removes all drawbacks of glass" - overstatement. (Score:2)
Generally speaking, you can see through it both ways... that's a huge drawback of glass in a lot of cases.
Tint or color, if any is present, is not changeable electronically
I expect also that this doesn't remove the disadvantage of having to replace an entire pane when it gets cracked... where having something you could treat in-place and the crack would simply disappear would be ideal.
Re: (Score:2)
I've seen glass with a frost layer sandwiched in the middle that was electronically unfrosted.
What we really... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Camera front elements (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow, glass with those properties being used for front elements on camera lenses would be amazing. Anti-glare without having to resort to all sorts of coatings, no fogging or moisture would be great too, especially if you're shooting in very humid environments.
As long as the micro-structures on the surface didn't change the optical properties so much as to be detrimental to the incoming light.
Re:Camera front elements (Score:5, Informative)
superhydrophobia (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The joke works just fine, but it requires a degree of literacy to get it. Long ago, "hydrophobia" was the name given to what we now call rabies, as one of the early symptoms of the illness is that the person or animal stops drinking water and slowly becomes dehydrated.
I would say that superhydrophobia is when you shoot Old Yeller, and he just gets back up, angrier than before. That's when you notice he's wearing a cape.
For comparison... (Score:5, Informative)
This new glass (165 degree [googleusercontent.com] contact angle)
The upcoming Neverwet [neverwet.com] material (160 to 175 degrees)
Lotus leaf or even some birds' feather (150 degrees [wikipedia.org])
Rain-X (110 degrees [cnet.com] - car windshield protector)
Teflon (95-110 [wordpress.com] degrees - surprisingly low, but then it needs to be tough and heat-proof)
Car wax (90 degrees)
Human skin (90 degrees [google.co.uk] - PDF warning)
I wonder what the durability of the glass is compared to Neverwet w(which is pervious to solvents, detergents, soap and high pressure water)...
Re: (Score:3)
Are you saying I could switch car wax for Human skin and get the same effect?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
magnetic? (Score:2)
Superhydrophobic? (Score:2)
How is this different than hydrophobic? Does water cross the street when it see this glass? Does the water bounce off the glass with a higher velocity than when it landed?
Re:Superhydrophobic? (Score:4, Informative)
more applications ... (Score:2)
If is all as stated..then it has great application (Score:3, Interesting)
If is all as stated..then it has great application. Aircraft cockpit windows just for one. I am sure that fighter pilots would love to have clearer visibility ( at least thru the windows itself) while going 700+ mph in rain.
Endless uses include: (Score:5, Insightful)
Porn-friendly monitors?
Why am I a Slashdot subscriber? (Score:3)
Marked +5 Insightful.
That's why.
That's the Spirit (Score:3, Insightful)
Spirit and Opportunity would have benefited greatly from glass that was self cleaning. Would not have needed to wait for Dust Devils and playful Mars Bunnies to clean off the photo cells.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah that martian rain would've washed the dust right off...
Patents (Score:2)
This is what patents are supposed to be for, instead of "sure we know its obvious but this time we did it with a computer!".
Low-water toilet (Score:3)
The surface sounds perfect to line the inside of a commode. Opaque better than transparent for this application, however. At least IMHO.
Remember: You saw it on Slashdot before you saw it at the rest stop. w00t
Re: (Score:2)
Do you really want the droplets to be bouncing off like little rubber balls?
Perfect for Solar Panels (Score:2)
Anti-reflective? This could be used to help solar panels capture more light.
3D Printing (Score:2)
Does anyone have a link to a glass 3D printing machine?
WIll it still break if you drop it? (Score:2)
One of the reasons a popular cell-phone has sold so well is that it's made of glass and so shatters if you drop it. If this new glass is doesn't break when you drop it that will have a significant impact on sales.
fragile? (Score:3)
Glass that does not transmit heat (much) (Score:3)
When I was a kid we went to the Corning glass museum in Corning NY. There they had a show room where they displayed all the stuff they could do with glass
I seem to remember one display in which a flame was applied to one side of a piece of glass and a pot of water was on the other side with a thermometer in it to show the temp was just room temp, despite being subjected to open flame , separated only by that pane of glass.
I wonder what ever became of that technology and why today it's not in every window in the world . The energy savings would be incredible- most air conditioning- heat or cooling- escapes through your window which has an R value of 2 or in the case of insulated glass unit (IGU) at best an R-value of 8.
Self cleaing windows save water and that's a Good Thing, but heat blocking glass saves energy and that's a Very Good Thing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I blame California.
Second.
Those fuckers think everything causes cancer!
Course, the sad part is, they're probably right...
Re: (Score:2)
On the other hand, I live in CA, and don't have cancer, and therefore get to laugh snarkily whenever I hear about some kid who has cancer in some other state begging make-a-wish to give him a nice day.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It causes cancer
In lab rats. Fed a steady diet of it.
Which only translates as a risk to circus geeks who eat broken glass. Nevertheless, it will be banned in California (on the theory that the entire state is populated by circus geeks).
Re: (Score:2)
It is/We are. Welcome to California where we elect guys named Moonbeam to office. In our defense, you all promoted our astrology based governor to be president once...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)