Glass Science

Jacob Wheaton

The students in Prof. Wheaton's group will carryout projects related to the fundamental properties of glasses. The first of these projects is to study the crystallization behavior of phosphate glasses. This project involves synthesizing the phosphate glasses and subjecting them to several different heat treatments, both using a furnace and thermal analysis techniques such as differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to investigate the nucleation and growth rates of the crystals that form, and then investigate the overall crystallization rate. Another project will investigate the high temperature ionic conductivity of solid materials, particularly glasses and ceramics that are being investigated for use in solid-state batteries and fuel cells. Furthermore, Prof. Wheaton has recently secured a small travel grant to collaborate with a NASA center and is looking to generate preliminary data on synthesizing glasses using simulated Martian regolith, with the goal to generate novel glass compositions that can be manufactured on Mars. 

Bio and interests:

This is Jacob’s first year at Coe College and he is looking forward to starting a strong research program this summer. Jacob’s background is in materials science and engineering, with a focus on glass science and engineering. He is interested in studying the physical properties of glass, particularly the crystallization and viscosity behavior of phosphate glasses, and the ionic conduction properties of glasses as well. Jacob is working to continue collaborations from his previous work, particularly with the University of Rennes in Rennes, France. During his Ph.D. work, Jacob worked to develop thin film oxy-sulfide glasses for use in solid-state batteries. He developed a thin film drawing process similar to that used to create the ultra-thin glass used in many cell phone screens. With this, Jacob was able to synthesize highly ionically conductive lithium glasses at thicknesses near 50 μm. This required extensive knowledge of the crystallization and viscosity behavior of the glass chemistry. Jacob’s research at Coe is to take a deeper dive into crystallization and viscosity behavior of glasses that have minimal research into them, such as phosphates and borates.