

Inventin may lood to better looking Popemobile






The new glass would also fit existing windowpanes.


Tests with larger explosions and larger glass sheets are planned.

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RE: Other uses?
By Solandri on 12/10/2010 2:53:34 PM , Rating: 3
I was going to say, if they can get this stuff cheap enough, any physics people want to chime in on how this might do in say, a tornado? Glass is such a brittle part of a building right now, you would think that if they could make it more stable and less dangerous (dangerous in extreme conditions at least), this could be huge.

Actually, you want the windows to pop out in a tornado. That's what's called a controlled failure - a component of the structure is designed to fail first in order to protect the rest of the structure. Without the windows blowing out, you can get a more destructive event, like the roof popping off.

Here's a similar design on the Southwest Airlines plane which depressurized last year:
The panel was deliberately designed with a weak ring whose sole purpose was to fail before the rest of the panel. When a fracture developed within the panel (part of the skin of the aircraft), it spread, until it hit this weak ring, at which point the ring blew out. The plane depressurized, but the damage was contained to the area within the ring. If you don't design such failure modes into your structure, the fracture could spread along the entire panel, "unzipping" the skin of the aircraft and resulting in a much more catastrophic failure. Like what happened to Aloha 243:

The main problem with glass windows is that they shatter into sharp shards. Tempered glass and plexiglass which avoid this have been available for decades, but their cost is high enough that it's cheaper to just replace the glass in the few cases where it does shatter and pay for any consequential medical bills. Even in California where a large number of windows break during an earthquake, people still go with regular glass and replace it if it does break. I sincerely doubt this new glass is cheaper than tempered glass or plexiglass, so I don't see it being any more successful than those two at replacing regular glass.

RE: Other uses?
By makken on 12/11/2010 12:08:54 AM , Rating: 2

As I understand it, in a tornado, you have high winds over the top of your roof. If your windows hold, the air under your roof is stationary, creating a pressure differential that can literally pop off your roof. If your windows pop, however, you have air flowing both above and below your roof, lessening the pressure differential, and potentially saving your roof.


RE: Other uses?
By goku on 12/16/2010 3:36:52 PM , Rating: 2
plexiglass shatters btw.. I think you mean lexan. But plastic scratches too easily so it depends on the application but for longevity, a tempered glass solution would be best.

