Glass

Palomar · 2004-08-23 10:53:48

*This from space.com's "Astronotes" (column format/updated; must copy and paste). Hopefully this hasn't already been posted elsewhere (or a similar article); I haven't seen it here at New Mars:

***
"Home Depot on Mars

It appears that tossing rocks around and living in glass houses on Mars may be a perfect mix.

University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) scientists are studying ways to house future astronauts on Mars by utilizing Martian minerals as building materials.

And while research work is underway here on Earth, that dynamic duo of Mars rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- are not only relaying key science data, they are also helping to catalog the raw materials available for construction workers on the red planet.

For long stays, not only on Mars but the Moon too, using local resources is important, explains Delbert Day, Curators' Professor emeritus of ceramic engineering at UMR. 'Astronauts can stay in the landing vehicle for a short time, but eventually we'll need to construct some type of structure for people to stay in.'

Day and Chandra Ray, research professor of ceramic engineering at the Graduate Center for Materials Research at UMR, are examining the properties of glass formed by melting simulated Martian soil.

'You can think of it as making concrete without cement,'
Day explains. 'You would gather up Martian soil and rocks and then glue them together with glass, rather than cement. A solar furnace could be the source of heat to melt the material.'

What remains unknown is how the lower gravity field would affect the process of forming glass. Day and Ray have conducted glass-melting research for more than 20 years, including space shuttle experiments. Testing their ideas on the International Space Station is also being planned.

!--->The surprising result from early experiments was that when melts in space were cooled, they tended to form glass easier than what they did on Earth.<---!

Ray is currently studying the properties of simulated Martian soils using an electrostatic levitator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama . An electrostatic levitator uses an electrical field between two electrodes to hold the levitated sample in place. Lasers then zap the material, heating it and turning that material into a floating molten sphere that can later cool without ever touching a container.

'We take advantage of gravity in a lot of the processing that we do with glass on Earth, such as removing gas bubbles. But the gravity on Mars is 60 percent less than it is on Earth, so we need to know how differences in gravity might affect the way glass can be processed on other planets,' Day concludes. Using local resources 'is one of the important challenges to be met in establishing a permanent presence on any planet,' he adds."
***

The moral of the story? Building on Mars needn't be a pain in the glass. :;):

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-08-23 11:03:21

What, did I see real science for the ISS in the form of a construction materials in situ processing concept. No way building from what you have rather than hauling it from Earth to where ever. Not aboard the science only ISS.

Yes I am being synical but we can do better with infrastruture building if we would only use what is available as is mentioned by doing this research into build materials to be use.
Such as reusing anything and every thing that is ever brought up to the ISS.
Re-use the proton cargo ship for something other than a dumpster. I am sure all the electronics and even the capsule could be made into additional temporary compartments for other experiments.

SpaceNut · 2004-08-23 11:30:16

Formulars for making glass from Sand.

http://www.ecu.edu/chem/glassblowing/oldrecipes.htm

SpaceNut · 2004-08-23 20:50:51

Sounds like both processes would be useful on the Moon and on Mars due to Mineral oxide rich soils on both.
Not quite from Star Trek where the tank is made of such stuff but close enough.

Alumina in the clear
A new method of preparing bulk volumes of alumina-based glasses and nanoscale glass-ceramics is reported this week.
http://www.nature.com/nature/links/040812/040812-6.html

Glass breakthrough
Anatoly Rosenflanz and colleagues at 3M in Minnesota used a "flame-spray" technique to alloy alumina (aluminium oxide) with rare-earth metal oxides to produce strong glass with good optical properties. The method avoids many of the problems encountered in conventional glass forming and could, say the team, be extended to other oxides.
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/8/9

Palomar · 2004-08-24 14:41:13

'You can think of it as making concrete without cement,'
Day explains. 'You would gather up Martian soil and rocks and then glue them together with glass, rather than cement...'

*I've been giving this more thought and I -REALLY- like this idea. I love rock houses anyway, and to have glass holding them together instead of cement?? It could look (at a distance) like all the rocks are merely suspended with gaps between them, if the glass were clear enough. That's cool.

Could glass on Mars be made with a frosted appearance? Or similar to glass blocks seen near swimming pools (a non-see-throughable accordion-type effect)?

Could stain the glass...a mix of multicolored stained glass with rocks dotted throughout. My imagination is going bonkers with this. :laugh: Hmmm...turquoise-colored (stained) glass with all those lovely orange- and reddish Marsian rocks interspersed throughout...now that's a keen idea! Would be very pretty.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-08-24 14:54:33

It is actually rather hard to make translucent glass. Virtually all impurities will color it, or make it translucnt instead of transparant...

So you'll sure have colorful glass first, on Mars, what with all those impurities etc... in your basic material. (using less than perfect hardware initially..)

srmeaney · 2005-04-10 23:54:20

Glass is nice, but i'm thinking synthesis of Opal.

SiO2-H2O. The fine grains settle and form a gel as the water evaporates off. It slowly converts from opaque to transparent. That way we can produce big domes which I have been oppose to on the basis that they were lame. But domes of Pure Opal. I can go with that. Considering the process of grain settling is accelerated by sound vibration. We could build dome structurals, layer with fine mesh and inflate a dome shaped mylar balloon to create a single piece dome of Opal, coloured by Iron oxide, Bauxite, ect.

Or we could produce Precise reuseable moulds and churn out Opal bricks that lock together like pieces of a puzzle. Maybe the earth will be so jealous, they will make their own.

SpaceNut · 2016-03-25 20:51:25

Not sure if this is the one that I remembered but its got more posts to it...

SpaceNut wrote:

From link
The machine prints soda lime glass, a family of glasses used in everything from water glasses to windows. But glasses like Pyrex could in principle be printed this way too, albeit at much higher temperatures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda-lime_glass
http://www.cmog.org/article/chemistry-glass
Soda-lime glass, most common form of glass produced. It is composed of about 70 percent silica (silicon dioxide), 15 percent soda (sodium oxide), and 9 percent lime (calcium oxide), with much smaller amounts of various other compounds. The soda serves as a flux to lower the temperature at which the silica melts, and the lime acts as a stabilizer for the silica.
A low-thermal-expansion borosilicate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex
According to glass supplier Pulles and Hannique, borosilicate Pyrex is made of Corning 7740 glass and is equivalent in formulation to Schott Glass 8830 glass sold under the "Duran" brand name.[11] The composition of both Corning 7740 and Schott 8830 is given as 80.6% SiO2, 12.6% B2O3, 4.2% Na2O, 2.2% Al2O3, 0.1% CaO, 0.1% Cl, 0.05% MgO, and 0.04% Fe2O3,
http://www.madehow.com/images/hpm_0000_ … mg0088.jpg

GW Johnson · 2016-03-26 16:53:32

Unfortunately, borosilicate glass, which is the thermal shock-resistant type, isn't actually what sold under the "Pyrex" brand name anymore. You have to be very careful where you get your borosilicate glass, and that it truly is borosilicate. On the commercial retail market, there is no such thing anymore, even under that brand name.

Commercial greed-without-ethics has ruined the "Pyrex" brand name, which is now just foreign-made soda lime glass, and it shatters when you bake in it. See http://exrocketman.blogspot.com, and navigate all the way down to "Pyrex Glassware Problem" dated 10-04-2009, under the search keyword "bad manners".

GW

SpaceNut · 2017-01-21 22:13:15

Glass Production

The furnaces are natural gas- or fuel oil-fired, and operate at temperatures up to 1,575 °C (2,867 °F).
Typically, furnace "size" is classified by metric tons per day (MTPD) production capability.

Foundry for smelting is quite simular

RobertDyck · 2017-01-22 00:06:09

Do you really need borosilicate glass? Mars takes hours to cool down. Taking one day from Mars Pathfinder, at 2:30pm it was -8°C, at 5:30am it was -77°C. That's a greater temperature swing than my city, night temperature could get down to -40°C on the coldest nights of the year. Last time it did was 3 consecutive nights in January 2005. Record cold was set in 1966 @ -45°C. None of our windows shattered. They developed frost, but didn't break. Earlier this year my windows made noises as they adjusted to cold. High during the day January 1 was -7.3°C, low at night January 4 was -31.9°C. January 13 it got down to -32.7°C. Wood stud walls and aluminum window frames made banging noises as temperature dropped, but nothing broke. There's a reason aluminum window frames have a rubber seal between aluminum and glass. Why couldn't we just do the same on Mars?

Last edited by RobertDyck (2017-01-24 15:14:26)

SpaceNut · 2017-01-22 00:28:12

I agree with multiple panes for the glass and am wondering if at least 1 or more of the panes should be a safety glass.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Yo … ENANIGANS/

Glass is composed of numerous oxides that fuse

http://www.taylormarine.com/infobar/bro … ss_cat.pdf

Oldfart1939 · 2017-01-22 13:53:40

The world's best manufacturer of a Borosilicate-type glass Is Schott, based in Germany. Not sure they still build some of the apparatus they once did, but my chemical plant had all glass chemical reactor systems up to 200 liters capacity, all constructed from their own glass. I'm thinking their brand name was "Duran?"

Upon checking at www.us.schott.com the new glass they are offering for use in oven doors, and for chemical applications is called "Borofloat."

Last edited by Oldfart1939 (2017-01-22 14:03:53)

SpaceNut · 2018-02-19 20:57:48

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#1 2004-08-23 10:53:48

Re: Glass

#2 2004-08-23 11:03:21

Re: Glass

#3 2004-08-23 11:30:16

Re: Glass

#4 2004-08-23 20:50:51

Re: Glass

#5 2004-08-24 14:41:13

Re: Glass

#6 2004-08-24 14:54:33

Re: Glass

#7 2005-04-10 23:54:20

Re: Glass

#8 2016-03-25 20:51:25

Re: Glass

#9 2016-03-26 16:53:32

Re: Glass

#10 2017-01-21 22:13:15

Re: Glass

#11 2017-01-22 00:06:09

Re: Glass

#12 2017-01-22 00:28:12

Re: Glass

#13 2017-01-22 13:53:40

Re: Glass

#14 2018-02-19 20:57:48

Re: Glass

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