Comments on: DOE Develops New Flexible Glass Stronger than Any Known Material

By: hamza

hamza — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:16:00 +0000

is it available in market, and what name have they given to it?

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 13:44:45 +0000

Interesting, and the theory seems plausible, but what does it cost to manufacture this glass? Is it cheap enough to truly offset your cost of infrastructure and solar?

By: stratocruiser

stratocruiser — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:12:48 +0000

First thing I wonder about is how much Palladium there is, and where, and who controls it.

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:57:39 +0000

What would be the point of using it as a substrate? The only benefit I see from this article is improved mechanical properties. Solar panels have paltry mechanical requirements, and steel is already as strong as steel and guaranteed a million times cheaper than this.

A strong transparent top layer for solar roads is an interesting problem, but this development is in a completely different ball park.

By: Phoenix Woman

Phoenix Woman — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:09:33 +0000

It’ll still make a fabulous substrate. We already have translucent asphalt called Floraphalte; put that on top of a glassy-metal set of layers and suddenly you have solar cells you can drive on.

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:57:27 +0000

Folks, this is a *metallic* glass. All that refers to is the crystal structure of the metal (as in, there isn’t one). Metallic glasses have lots of interesting mechanical properties, but they are *not* transparent.

By: Susan Kraemer

Susan Kraemer — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:39:58 +0000

Oh, brilliant. Right.

By: Phoenix Woman

Phoenix Woman — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:53:41 +0000

Suddenly the Solar Roadways project is very feasible indeed:

http://www.solarroadways.com