Final Report Summary - EFONGA (European Forum On New Glass Applications)
Glass is one of the oldest man-made materials, and at the same time it has a very rich future. Presently glass is used more and more in very different applications such as packaging, building, automotive, tableware and domestic glassware, space communications, optoelectronics, bioapplications, etc. This extremely wide range of uses relies on the one hand on the exceptional physical and chemical properties of this material and on the other hand on its low cost and almost limitless capacity for recycling.
Glass is a multifunctional and also, in principle, a fully renewable material. The progress in knowledge of its structure and properties has led in the recent years to a continuous expansion of its application. At the present time many possibilities for further improvements exist in the different domains listed above, and these rely on progress in the basic understanding of glassy materials and developments in glass technology.
Within the framework of the European Group of the International Commission on Glass, the 'European forum of new glass applications' (Efonga) operates in a coordinated and cooperative way in many different fields from the basic knowledge of the glassy materials to the optimisation of the industrial production process. The Efonga activities involve about 200 European glass scientists and technologists from about 50 European laboratories, from 20 European Union member and associated states, and belonging to industries, universities and institutes. Efonga acts in managing and coordinating the research activities of these different groups at the pre-competitive level, and in organising dissemination of knowledge and training activities. The activities involve three main axes:
1) Management and coordination: the organisation of round robin tests on key scientific and technical problems in the context of co-normative and pre-normative research according to the needs of the market, of industry and of the standardisation bodies.
2) Dissemination of knowledge: the organisation of regular technical meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences, in order to promote, maintain and update the exchange of information and interactions among glass experts from most of the states of the European Union.
3) Education and training: The Efonga project acts on the one hand by coordinating existing glass education and training at a European scale, and on the other by organising specific training courses in the framework of the annual meetings.
The first and automatic goal of Efonga is the integration of all glass groups from all EU states according to a common axis of development based on the highest level of knowledge. This acts for the homogenisation of the European glass sector and its increased competitiveness with the USA and Japan. Moreover, integration based on common industrial best practice contributes to reduce significantly the environmental impact of the European glass industry.
Among the most important goals of the Efonga project is the improvement of basic knowledge on the chemistry of glasses in order to create new glasses and new glass applications, in particular nano-structured glassy materials. Another important goal is the optimisation of batch compositions and of the production processes of glass in order to reduce their environmental impact.
Efonga focused its activity on: micro and nano-structured glasses and their applications, glass processing mechanisms and modelling, surface and interface phenomena, communication, dissemination and education.
In more specific terms, Efonga focused on the following areas:
- micro and nano-structure of glasses (this topic includes structure investigations and numerical simulations; nano-phase formation, nucleation and crystallisation; biomaterials; and hybrid and nano-composite materials for optoelectronics).
- nano-structure based glass applications (this topic includes: coatings made by sol-gel and chemical nanotechnologies; waveguides, optical amplifiers and lasers; coatings on glasses).
- glass processing mechanisms and modelling (this topic includes: properties of glass forming melts; gas solubility in glasses; electrochemical properties of glass melts; modelling of glass melting processes; modelling of glass forming processes.).
- surface and interface phenomena (this topic includes: chemical properties, optical properties, physical characterisation).
- communication, dissemination, education and training. The diffusion and the dissemination of information is performed via a web-site, dedicated publications workshops and conference presentations.
The interim and final results of the Efonga collaborative program will also be published in the form of collected volumes of work. The main task is to set up an appropriate mean of organising committee meetings, workshops, conferences, congresses and studies schools to facilitate the interactions between the different groups involved, to encourage combined activities and to offer training and educational possibilities whether at the level of senior or new research workers.
Researchers planned:
- annual meetings covering the period of the project
- one or two meetings per year for each working group inside a sub-workprogramme
- organisation of one training school every year.
Major achievements
A great progress has been made in the cooperative investigation of industrial glasses. Four round robin tests were completed on characterisation of integrated optical amplifiers (active waveguides), liquidus temperature of soda-lime-magnesia-silica float glass samples, on water content and absorption coefficient, on combined models for investigating batch blanket models and improvement of glass bath and combustion space modelling and parameters, on optical measurements for diffusing and patterned glass.
A highlight of workpackage 5 during the last year has been to organise in May 2009 a two day teaching event in Montpellier under the heading 'Glass structure-property relationships'. The workshop attracted 56 students from 12 different European countries plus 3 from the US; they were taught by 11 staff who between them presented 16 lectures.
Following the success of the expert meeting organised in March 2008 in Brig, Switzerland, a meeting on innovation in glass melting processes and new functional materials. In the domain of basic glass science, two experts meetings on 'Glass and entropy' were held, the first in Trencin, Slovakia, June 25 - 27, 2008 with 36 invited contributions and more than 50 attendees, the second in Aberystwyth, UK, April 22 24, 2009, with 28 invited contributions and more than 40 attendees. The main outputs of these workshops are roadmaps on important topics for the next ten years.
Finally, in order to summarise the results obtained during the four years of cooperation in the frame of the Efonga project, and to define the main lines for future actions, a closing meeting 'Current status and future of glass' was organised in Montpellier from May 6 to May 8 in Montpellier. It was attended by more than 50 experts.
Glass is a multifunctional and also, in principle, a fully renewable material. The progress in knowledge of its structure and properties has led in the recent years to a continuous expansion of its application. At the present time many possibilities for further improvements exist in the different domains listed above, and these rely on progress in the basic understanding of glassy materials and developments in glass technology.
Within the framework of the European Group of the International Commission on Glass, the 'European forum of new glass applications' (Efonga) operates in a coordinated and cooperative way in many different fields from the basic knowledge of the glassy materials to the optimisation of the industrial production process. The Efonga activities involve about 200 European glass scientists and technologists from about 50 European laboratories, from 20 European Union member and associated states, and belonging to industries, universities and institutes. Efonga acts in managing and coordinating the research activities of these different groups at the pre-competitive level, and in organising dissemination of knowledge and training activities. The activities involve three main axes:
1) Management and coordination: the organisation of round robin tests on key scientific and technical problems in the context of co-normative and pre-normative research according to the needs of the market, of industry and of the standardisation bodies.
2) Dissemination of knowledge: the organisation of regular technical meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences, in order to promote, maintain and update the exchange of information and interactions among glass experts from most of the states of the European Union.
3) Education and training: The Efonga project acts on the one hand by coordinating existing glass education and training at a European scale, and on the other by organising specific training courses in the framework of the annual meetings.
The first and automatic goal of Efonga is the integration of all glass groups from all EU states according to a common axis of development based on the highest level of knowledge. This acts for the homogenisation of the European glass sector and its increased competitiveness with the USA and Japan. Moreover, integration based on common industrial best practice contributes to reduce significantly the environmental impact of the European glass industry.
Among the most important goals of the Efonga project is the improvement of basic knowledge on the chemistry of glasses in order to create new glasses and new glass applications, in particular nano-structured glassy materials. Another important goal is the optimisation of batch compositions and of the production processes of glass in order to reduce their environmental impact.
Efonga focused its activity on: micro and nano-structured glasses and their applications, glass processing mechanisms and modelling, surface and interface phenomena, communication, dissemination and education.
In more specific terms, Efonga focused on the following areas:
- micro and nano-structure of glasses (this topic includes structure investigations and numerical simulations; nano-phase formation, nucleation and crystallisation; biomaterials; and hybrid and nano-composite materials for optoelectronics).
- nano-structure based glass applications (this topic includes: coatings made by sol-gel and chemical nanotechnologies; waveguides, optical amplifiers and lasers; coatings on glasses).
- glass processing mechanisms and modelling (this topic includes: properties of glass forming melts; gas solubility in glasses; electrochemical properties of glass melts; modelling of glass melting processes; modelling of glass forming processes.).
- surface and interface phenomena (this topic includes: chemical properties, optical properties, physical characterisation).
- communication, dissemination, education and training. The diffusion and the dissemination of information is performed via a web-site, dedicated publications workshops and conference presentations.
The interim and final results of the Efonga collaborative program will also be published in the form of collected volumes of work. The main task is to set up an appropriate mean of organising committee meetings, workshops, conferences, congresses and studies schools to facilitate the interactions between the different groups involved, to encourage combined activities and to offer training and educational possibilities whether at the level of senior or new research workers.
Researchers planned:
- annual meetings covering the period of the project
- one or two meetings per year for each working group inside a sub-workprogramme
- organisation of one training school every year.
Major achievements
A great progress has been made in the cooperative investigation of industrial glasses. Four round robin tests were completed on characterisation of integrated optical amplifiers (active waveguides), liquidus temperature of soda-lime-magnesia-silica float glass samples, on water content and absorption coefficient, on combined models for investigating batch blanket models and improvement of glass bath and combustion space modelling and parameters, on optical measurements for diffusing and patterned glass.
A highlight of workpackage 5 during the last year has been to organise in May 2009 a two day teaching event in Montpellier under the heading 'Glass structure-property relationships'. The workshop attracted 56 students from 12 different European countries plus 3 from the US; they were taught by 11 staff who between them presented 16 lectures.
Following the success of the expert meeting organised in March 2008 in Brig, Switzerland, a meeting on innovation in glass melting processes and new functional materials. In the domain of basic glass science, two experts meetings on 'Glass and entropy' were held, the first in Trencin, Slovakia, June 25 - 27, 2008 with 36 invited contributions and more than 50 attendees, the second in Aberystwyth, UK, April 22 24, 2009, with 28 invited contributions and more than 40 attendees. The main outputs of these workshops are roadmaps on important topics for the next ten years.
Finally, in order to summarise the results obtained during the four years of cooperation in the frame of the Efonga project, and to define the main lines for future actions, a closing meeting 'Current status and future of glass' was organised in Montpellier from May 6 to May 8 in Montpellier. It was attended by more than 50 experts.