Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has earned three awards this year from R&D Magazine, a trade journal that annually recognizes the 100 top industrial inventions worldwide.
E-Mail
Researchers present a new, low-temperature method for injection-molding transparent fused silica glass, similar to how many plastic objects are manufactured. According to the authors, the process offers the possibility of producing complex and high-quality glass components using the same fabrication methods that allowed polymers to become one of the most important materials of the 21st century. The optical, thermal, mechanical and chemical properties of silicate glasses make them an ideal non-carbon based, high-performance material with applications ranging from packaging and architecture to high-throughput fiber optic and photonic devices. However, despite being one of the oldest and most relevant materials used by humans today, the technology used to manufacture glass has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Glass processing requires that it be melted at high temperatures - approaching 2,000 degrees Celsius for some glasses - which not only makes the process highly