Robot helps to develop and examine new types of glass

Prof Martin Kilo, manager of the expert group for glass and high-temperature materials at Fraunhofer’s Institute for Silicate Research, told The Engineer: ‘We have speeded up the process for developing new glass compositions.’

In order to develop glass with a new set of characteristics, experts mix close to a dozen compounds from potential elements. The compounds are heated in a furnace until they become soft, then they’re poured into a mould and left to cool gradually down to room temperature.

During the process, samples from the viscous glass are taken for testing in order to find out how viscous it is, how well it wets metals, and how it crystallises.

This is a time-consuming procedure, but the robot is reportedly able to process 16 glass samples in 24 hours — a task that would take a single employee approximately two weeks to complete.

The robot puts a mixing cup on a scale and moves it under 14 storage vessels, from which a certain amount of powder is poured into the cup.