Scientists develop new glasslike material tougher than bulletproof glass

Scientists from the US Naval Research Laboratory have created a new glasslike material tougher and lighter than bulletproof glass, an online news report said.

An article on Daily Mail online said possible use for the new material include: vehicle and cockpit windows, spacecraft and satellite components, camera lens, smartphone screens, military lasers, and infrared equipment.

The article said the material is made from magnesium and spinel, an aluminum-based mineral, and took more than 10 years to be developed. It’s created by pressing a nanopowder together while heating it, in a process called sintering. The end product is a piece of spinel crystal that can be modeled like clay.

According to Dr. Jas Sanghera, the project’s lead researcher, the material performed far better than bulletproof glass. “If you replaced [bulletproof glass] with spinel, you’d reduce the weight by a factor of two or more.”

Because of glass’s crystal structure, once a crack forms on its surface, it passes all the way through, rendering it impossible to see through cracked bulletproof glass. Spinel doesn’t have the same problem.

“If I have all these crystals packed together, the crack gets deflected at the hard crystals. You dissipate the crack energy,” said Sanghera.

Spinel, also known as magnesium aluminate, is naturally occurring. An example is the Black Prince’s Ruby, a colored piece of spinel. — Bea Montenegro/RSJ, GMA News