An international research is looking into the composition of No more cracks on your screen after dropping your phone? Could become reality glass could lead to the development of shatter-proof mobile phone screens.

The study is led by The Australian National University (ANU) and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France and could represent a huge progress in mobile users’ lives, reducing fear of dropping their devices and costs to replace the cracked screens.

Dr Charles Le Losq from ANU, lead researcher of the study, explained that the new knowledge, based on experiments and computer modelling, could be used to alter the structure of glass in order to develop improved resistance to fractures.

“Everyone knows how frustrating it is when you drop your mobile device and get a large crack in the screen,” observed Dr Le Losq from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

He said that, even tough glass appeared to be structured randomly, when looked at microscopic level of atoms it was actually quite ordered.

The researchers focused their efforts on a specific type of glass called alumino-silicate, which is used in the screens of mobile devices.

“The glasses we analysed are mostly composed of aluminium and silicon oxides, and can also contain various elements such as sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium – each element influences the flexibility and resistance of the glass,” Dr Le Losq observed.

The research is the result of a longstanding collaborations among different laboratories around the world, and scientists in the fields of chemistry, geochemistry, material science and physics.

Dr Le Losq said the research findings were not limited to the mobile screen industry, but also contributed to understand the crucial role that lava oceans and volcanoes played in the geological evolution of Earth. The researchers measured the viscosity of molten glass at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius and the density of the glass when cooled and formed.

“Our research findings allow better modelling of present volcanic activity, as well as of the lavas involved in the original formation of Earth and its surface,” Dr Le Losq observed.

He added that the research could also provide guidelines for the production of glass suitable for storing nuclear waste more effectively than current practices.

Written by: Pietro Paolo Frigenti