4.2c Glass
Nature and Aims of Design
Nature of Design
The rapid pace of technological discoveries is very evident in the manufacture and use of glass in electronic devices. Different properties have been presented in glass for aesthetic or safety considerations for many years but the future of glass seems to be interactivity alongside electronic systems. The structure of glass is not well understood, but as more is learned, its use is becoming increasingly prominent in building materials and structural applications. (2.2)
Aims
Aim 6: The earliest found examples of glass objects come from the third millennium BCE, and up until the 1850s glass was considered a luxury item. Since then, glass has permeated and revolutionized many aspects of human life and culture in diverse fields such as the arts, architecture, electronics and communication technologies.
Guidance
As DP Design Technology student you should:
Understand the Characteristics of glass
Identify Applications of glass
Understand Recovery and disposal of glass
Concepts and Principles
Glass has unique physical and mechanical properties
Glass is a solid made by rapidly cooling a mixture of silica, soda, and lime. Melted together at very high temperatures (above 1700 degrees celsius), glass has been used and prized for thousands of years because of its unique properties.
Glass is a sustainable material in that it can be recycled easily and can be used in applications that reduce energy usage. Because of its thermal insulation qualities, it is used in solar panels.
It also has valuable applications in health and safety: As an inert material, it can preserved food flavors and does not react with medicines and the contents in the way that plastics and metals might.
Glass does require a very large amount of energy in its manufacture, and it uses non-renewable resources such as silica and soda.
As a designer, it is important to balance the environmental considerations of using glass with the obvious benefits and strengths of the material.
Characteristics of glass
Applications of glass
Glass is a highly engineered material resulting in varieties with unique and very different physical and mechanical properties.
Designers and engineers can exploit the unique properties of glass to meet certain performance. As a student of design, is important to understand these general categories of glass and their typical use cases.
Recovery and disposal of glass
Glass is easily recycled. In the manufacture of glass, recycled glass plays an important role. Cullet, crushed recycled glass, is added to the molten mix. This reduces the melting temperature as well as the amount of raw materials with an overall savings in energy. Adding about 25% cullet will reduce energy by 5%. (source)
Glass is continuously recyclable in the sense that it does not degrade the same way that plastic does.
The Nut Behind the Wheel: 99% Invisible story about automobile safety and how the switch to laminated glass windshields drastically reduced traffic fatalities.