Aiming to expand the essential understanding of glass surfaces in order to improve science, technology and the manufacture of glass, a new Center for Glass Surfaces and Interfaces has been established at Penn State.
The National Science Foundation's Industry-University Center for Glass Research (CGR) has formally established the center that should ultimately produce research that will allow the development of glass products with greater strength, corrosion tolerance, optical reflectivity and resistance to weathering and scratches. Carlo Pantano, professor of materials science and engineering and director of Penn State's Materials Research Institute, will direct the new research site.
"Although many applications of glass require that the surface form an interface with other materials -- such as semi conducting thin films, polymer coatings, diffusion barriers and metal coatings -- fundamental knowledge about the surface of glass has been limited," Pantano said. "This is especially true regarding multicomponent, commercial glass compositions."
A total of 34 corporate partners are involved in the CGR, including five recent additions that are dedicated to the Penn State center: Alcatel, Cerdec Corp., Sierracin/Sylmar Corp., Schott Glas and St. Gobain. These firms have each made a three-year membership commitment to support the center with at least $32,000 in funding per year.
The CGR is a multi-university center based in the NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. Its new site at Penn State is only its second satellite to receive administrative funding from the National Science Foundation. The other site, devoted to refractories, is at the University of Missouri at Rolla.