The novel material mimics the layered structure of nacre
Nacre, an iridescent material that lines some seashells, gains strength and toughness from its structure: brittle mineral chips glued into layers by squishy proteins.
Now researchers have used the same principle to develop a superstrong glass composite that could one day make nearly unbreakable smartphone screens, windshields and other items that currently rely on various types of treated glass.
The new material combines rigid glass flakes, less than a hundredth of a millimeter thick, with flexible acrylic.
Both glass and acrylic are transparent on their own, but light travels through each of these materials at a different speed.
So the researchers mixed small quantities of a hydrocarbon with the acrylic until it interacted with light more like glass does.
The result is not only transparent, Ehrlicher says, but also 400 percent stronger and 650 percent more damage-resistant than the material used in car windshields: resin sandwiched between two layers of glass.
Ehrlicher compares the way the acrylic binds the glass flakes into a stacked structure to a brick wall with staggered layers: any crack snaking through the new material will follow the acrylic seams in a convoluted path, thus requiring more energy to fracture.
Arun Varshneya, president of Saxon Glass Technologies, points out that the material is still less transparent than glass and more prone to surface scratches.
He says, "I'm actually quite enthused with this gallant effort in the right direction." Varshneya, who was also not involved in the research, lauds the composite's strength throughout the material, in contrast to the chemically strengthened glass used in items such as smartphone screens.
Ehrlicher says he hopes to keep improving the new material's transparency and scratch resistance while retaining its remarkable toughness.