Planning Grant for the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Glass Surfaces and Interfaces: Satellite Research Site of the Center for Glass Research

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PANTANO EEC-9807294 This award provides funding to Pennsylvania State University to determine if there is sufficient industrial support for this university to become a research site of the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) on Glass Research, based at Alfred University. The work at Penn State would focus on glass surfaces, which will complement the research currently performed at Alfred University on glass and glass manufacturing. Research on glass surfaces is of interest because the surface of a manufactured glass product often dictates many of the properties important to such products, including strength, corrosion, weathering resistance, cleanliness, scratch resistance, and optical reflectivity. Additionally, glass products may be mated or bonded to other materials such as deposited thin films for solar control and metal coatings for optics. During manufacturing, the surface of the glass must withstand a variety of chemical and physical properties for cleaning, etching, polishing and plasma treatments. Thus, an understanding of glass surfaces and interfaces is essential to both the science and technology of glass.