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Is it possible, for example, to create a window whose glass, when hitting a soccer ball in them, they won’t break, they just spring and push this ball back into the yard? Scientists claim that it’s quite possible – you just need to make soft glass in hard glass areas that can be distributed differently on the surface load from the outside. Glass is a wonderful invention. of humanity, however, this material has one serious the disadvantage is that it is very fragile. No, of course, you can increase glass strength by adding various components to it, however this will not change this property: bulletproof glass still doesn’t withstand impact, for example, an artillery shell. And all because that this material does not have the proper ductility and flexibility – this leads to its deformation under various loads. But you can whether to make glass more plastic without changing its other useful properties? Is it possible, for example, to create such a window, glass which, for example, when a soccer ball hits them, does not they will break, but simply spring and push this ball back into the yard? Scientists from McGill University (Canada), who led by Professor Francois Barthelot, believe that this is quite perhaps. To do this, just … scratch the glass in certain places. This idea occurred to researchers when they studied the structure of shells of various mollusks, which also consist from hard and brittle minerals. It should be noted that even representatives of this group of animals can differ greatly from friend, the principle of the structure of their shell is one and the same. And her strength as such human bones, due to the presence in the mass solid material fragments of softer components, according to which strain energy extends deep into the shell, distributing load over a significant surface. Glass is formed completely according to another principle: its strength is ensured by the quantity layers that distribute the load over a large area surface, but do not “take” it deep into. Scientists from McGill University decided to apply their “principle” sinks “to ordinary glass. To do this, they burned with a laser in it, wave-like tracks from tiny holes, and then filled these “paths” are polyurethane. Of course, these “scratched” places cracked, but after that the glass did not break, because, like the researchers predicted, soft components connected it together. Moreover, the transfer of force from one point throughout material has improved: it has become about the same as in mollusk shells. Further experiments showed what is “scratched” glass resisted much better deformation. For example, ordinary glass breaks after elongation literally 0.1 percent, but his new “bionic” brother could survive the elongation by about five percent without any problems! According to scientists, the total strength of this material is 200 times higher than standard glass used for window production. In addition, you need to consider that Demonstrated by scientists – this is just the first “swallow”. However, the material is ready for practical implementation. In the future, we should expect the appearance of composites on glass base with even more outstanding characteristics. And judging by everything, you don’t have to wait long, because, according to the doctor Bartelo, “… the production method of this material is very economical. All you need is a focused, pulsed laser beam at predetermined points. Our three-dimensional laser technique engraving can be easily scaled and used to large and thick components of any shape. ” expect such glasses to quickly take their place on market and, moreover, in some industries, they can quickly supplant traditional ones because their price will be slightly higher. But where can you use such “rubber” glass? Firstly (and this is the most promising direction), in screens of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, which, according to statistics, mostly fail due to glass deformation upon falling or some other unexpected screen load. Secondly, on the basis of these materials it will be possible develop a fundamentally new concept of bulletproof coatings: there will be no need to increase the thickness of the glass or add to components that degrade the optical properties of the material. Well, finally, such glass can be useful in the manufacture of glasses, binoculars and other optical devices. By the way, if it comes to about glasses, then a logical question immediately arises – do they similar modifications of glass to its optical properties? Series experiments conducted by a group of professor Barthelo showed what is not – the fact is that the “scratches” that improve durability are very very small, their sizes are comparable to those of microcracks, which constantly appear on any glass. And their human eye is just He does not notice, and all the optical effects they produce are also.
Lasers
