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Canberra Today 15°/18° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Taking the shatter out of mobile phone screens

ANU Researcher Dr Charles Le Losq with natural volcanic pumice from the eruption of the supervolcano Toba in Indonesia that took place 74,000 years ago. Photo by Stuart Hay, ANU
SHATTER-proof mobile phone screens are a step closer following developments in an international study on glass led by the ANU and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France.

Lead researcher Dr Charles Le Losq, from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, said the new knowledge, based on experiments and computer modelling, could be used to alter the structure of glass to improve resistance to fractures.

“Everyone knows how frustrating it is when you drop your mobile device and get a large crack in the screen,” said Dr Le Losq.

He said glass appeared to be structured randomly, but it was actually quite ordered at the microscopic level of a few atoms.

The researchers worked on a type of glass called alumino-silicate, which is used in the screens of mobile devices.

“The glasses we analysed are mostly composed of aluminium and silicon oxides, and can also contain various elements such as sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium – each element influences the flexibility and resistance of the glass,” Dr Le Losq said.

The research builds on long-standing collaborations involving laboratories around the world, and scientists in the fields of chemistry, material science, physics and geochemistry.

Dr Le Losq said the research findings also shed light on the crucial role that lava oceans and volcanoes played in the geological evolution of Earth.

The researchers measured the viscosity of molten glass at more than 1000 degrees Celsius and the density of the glass when cooled and formed.

“Our research findings allow better modelling of present volcanic activity, as well as of the lavas involved in the original formation of Earth and its surface,” Dr Le Losq said.

He said the research could also inform ways to produce glass suitable for storing nuclear waste more effectively than current practices.

ANU and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris jointly conducted this research, which is published in Scientific Reports, in collaboration with researchers from France, the UK and China.

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