Catching up with Glassomer: Revolution in glass processing takes shape
Glass has been used for thousands of years and is often considered to be humankind’s oldest high-performance material. However, there has been little innovation in recent centuries. In 2021, the EU-funded Glassomer(opens in new window) project set out to change all that. “If we look back over the last few decades, it is clear that polymers have surpassed glass in terms of performance across a range of applications,” comments project coordinator Bastian Rapp from German precision glass manufacturer Glassomer GmbH. “Plastics are much easier to shape than glass. However, though plastic is light and can be coloured, it is not as strong as metal, nor as transparent or chemically inert as glass.” This led to an interesting proposition: What if glass could be shaped in the same way that polymers are shaped? This would enable manufacturers to benefit from the properties of glass, but with the added flexibility of plastic. “We wanted to see if we could apply processing innovations like injection moulding and 3D printing to glass as if it were a polymer,” explains Rapp. “This idea began in a university laboratory, before being spun off into a start-up.” Glassomer developed a glass nanocomposite – basically a piece of plastic with a lot of tiny sand particles in it. These sand particles are really small, which means that the polymer can be processed like any other polymer. “Once the shape is defined, you simply remove the plastic,” adds Rapp. “You end up with a material that looks like chalk and is surprisingly rigid. This is then put in an oven and heated up, fusing together the sand particles to create glass.”
Investing in polymer processing infrastructure
The Glassomer (Glassomer – A Revolution in Glass Processing) project was launched to help the company show that the process works at scale. This involved not only investment in polymer processing infrastructure but also expertise in fields such as injection moulding. “We wanted to demonstrate that this process can run on state-of-the-art infrastructure and produce hundreds of thousands of components,” states Rapp. “We come from a deep tech background, so we needed people with different skill sets. This is where the EU project really helped us.” The material was shown to be compatible with everything from injection moulding and additive manufacturing to classical subtractive processes such as drilling and milling. Another key benefit is that the material requires far less energy than other glass manufacturing technologies and generates significantly less CO2. Glassomer is now a fully-fledged SME and recognised as an important innovator in glass processing. The company has expanded from being a start-up with a few founding members to employing around 20 people. It has access to three large-scale injection moulding machines as well as post-processing equipment. “This is a result of the confidence that this project has given us,” remarks Rapp. “This was a leap for us, and we would not have risked it without the Accelerator grant(opens in new window). There are just so many challenges to scaling up.” The company’s customer base is diverse, ranging from typical glass-focused industries such as precision optics to speciality labware and automotive parts. “We are currently working to consolidate our position in the field, and to continue building up our manufacturing capabilities,” concludes Rapp. “We are still relatively young in the materials science business, so we need to show we can compete and continually grow.” The ‘Life After’ feature shines a light on finished EU-funded projects and what they have achieved since the end of EU funding. If you are interested in having your project featured as a ‘Life After’ project, please send us an email to editorial@cordis.europa.eu and tell us why!