| On
this page
you will find information about Airglass and its history. If this is
your
first visit we suggest you to continue reading the Index of this
page.
To find more you can use the buttons to the left.
If you have any questions please read the FAQ before contacting us. You can order samples by clicking on "sale". The latest update was 2004-06-08. |
Index of this page:
| What
is Airglass ?
Technical Description History Fields of Application |
| Airglass is a transparent material that looks like glass, insulates better than mineral wool and is more heat resistant than aluminum. The material has many interesting properties and possible applications such as insulation in windows and solar collectors, windows in firewalls, a component in air-conditioning equipment, you name it. | |
| Measurements
have shown
that Airglass has outstanding properties, especially regarding heat
transfer.
The material transmits about 88% of the integrated solar spectrum
(thickness
about 10 mm,3/8 inch); a small fraction of the transmitted light is
scattered.
In the production process Airglass is molded, giving the possibility of getting different shapes: cylinders, cubes, plates of varying thickness etc. |
Chemically,
Airglass
is composed of quartz and a great deal of air, making it fragile. The
grains
of quartz are small compared to the wavelength of light, giving
Airglass
good transparency properties. At around 750°C (1380°F), it
starts
to shrink and slowly collapses to a piece of ordinary quartz.
Airglass can be cut with a band saw and holes can be drilled with a metal drill. It should be noted that Airglass is non-flammable and non-toxic. |
| Density | 50 - 200 kg/m³ |
| Refractive index | 1.02 - 1.05 |
| Heat transfer coeff. | 0.021 W/m°C
At 20°C(68°F)
rising to 0.2 at 300°C(570°F) |
| Non deforming | up to 750°C(1380°F) |
| Chemical composition | 99.99%SiO2 |
| Standard size today | 60 x 60 x 2 cm³ (2 ft x 2 ft x 3/4 inch) |
| Grain size | 10 - 30 nm in diameter |
| UV-resistant | |
| Resistant to radio-activity | |
| Can be dyed |
| Airglass is a by-product of a research project in elementary particle physics at Cern, the European nuclear research centre in Geneva. An experiment proposed in 1977 required a material with very special properties. This material, to-day known as Airglass, was developed at the University of Lund. The commercial possibilities the material offers were quickly recognized and both the production method as well as application were patented in several countries. | Development continued at the university until 1982. Then, the material's potential was considered so good that a special plant was constructed with the help of funding from the Technical Development Board, the Building Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the University of Lund, the Science Research Council an d Cern. The research work has attracted world-wide attention resulting in many inquiries for more detailed information. |
| At first glance, Airglass looks like a normal window pane. The big difference is that it is much lighter. Airglass is composed mostly of silicon; it is a porous, transparent material with very good insulation properties. It is also fire-proof. Airglass is very brittle, but development of improved elasticity is in progress. In certain situations, Airglass has been reinforced with fibreglass; common glass is another suitable reinforcement. Sufficient quality has been obtained early in the development work, enabling sale of the product to other laboratories such as; | Cern,
Geneva;
Los Alamos National Lab; Fermi National Lab, Chicago; Brookhaven, New
York;
Danish Space Flight Institute, Lyngby; Lapp, Annecy and Nikhef,
Amsterdam.
The wide variety of inquiries has indicated that there are many applications for Airglass. The project group has chosen to concentrate on fireproof glass (such as oven doors), solar collectors, insulating glass and air-conditioning equipment. |