Uses
Las principales características del vidrio (su transparencia y su dureza), a pesar de las restricciones impuestas por su principal limitación (su fragilidad), lo convierten en un elemento imprescindible en numerosísimas aplicaciones, formando por sí mismo un grupo de materiales de una enorme importancia económica.
Building and architecture
Since the middle of the century, glass facades have become an almost essential hallmark of large buildings in the main cities of the world.[26] These facades are usually made using pieces of flat glass with a very wide range of colors, which facilitates the creative work of architects. These glasses are normally subjected to certain processes that improve their thermal and acoustic insulation properties; and its ability to attenuate external light.
In conventional facades, glass continues to maintain its predominant role in the windows, integrated into different types of carpentry (from traditional wooden ones, through steel ones, aluminum ones, and even PVC ones), with single panes or double panes separated by a confined layer of air.
Nowadays, glass has become an essential element in home decoration. Thanks to its elegance, transmission of external light and transparency, glass makes spaces spacious and clean. For this, choosing the right glass is very important, especially for architects and designers who are the ones who use this material to create their projects.
Furthermore, as it has different colors and textures, glass can be used in numerous ways in countless elements, such as:
Glass wool is used as thermal and acoustic insulation in buildings, placed between the exterior and interior walls of many buildings.
There are some pioneering projects that have used fiberglass treated with resins for use in small bridges[27] and walkways, taking advantage of the advantages of its lightness. Likewise, the use of fiberglass bars has been proposed for reinforcing concrete, thus avoiding the effect of corrosion on metal reinforcements in especially aggressive environments.
Windshield
Since the first carriages designed to transport passengers, all companies manufacturing means of transport (railways, shipbuilding, the automobile industry and the aerospace industry) have been linked since their origins to the production of glass elements used in windows and windshields as well as in the interior and exterior lighting systems of all types of vehicles. Likewise, another element linked to the automobile industry is the manufacture of rear-view mirrors.
A clear example is the evolution of automobile design, which went from using flat glass exclusively to integrating sophisticated curved glass elements in windshields and windows. Both the aerospace and automobile industries have benefited and in turn have made notable contributions to the development of increasingly lighter and stronger glasses, such as Gorilla Glass,[28] later widely used in the manufacture of cell phones.
Packaging
Glass (despite competition from cheaper containers such as aluminum or steel cans; waxed or aluminum-coated cardboard bricks; and plastic bottles) is still one of the containers preferably used for the marketing of most alcoholic beverages (among which wine and beer can be massively included, despite the progression of other types of containers in these two cases), a multitude of preserves (especially jams and vegetables, which benefit from visibility of the product through glass), soft drinks of all kinds and perfumery products such as colognes or certain beauty products (to which glass containers[29] with original designs provide undeniable added value).
From the first half of the century, when food companies were in charge of collecting containers for cleaning and new use (a common practice at that time in dairy, brewing and soft drink industries), until the 1980s, in which the use of non-returnable containers[30] intended to be recycled in the manufacture of new bottles became widespread, glass has been shown to be one of the least polluting and most easily recycled materials.
Likewise, the pharmaceutical industry frequently uses glass containers for many of its liquid preparations such as syrups or injectables.
energy production
Energy production systems such as photovoltaic panels[31] and solar thermal power plants use glass elements massively to capture solar energy. In the case of photovoltaic panels, they protect the silicon cells (and finally concentrate the light), and in the case of solar thermal power plants they are the key element of the collector mirrors (and in some systems, also of the collectors through which the fluids with which the sun's heat accumulates circulate).
Improving the properties of these glasses (cost, transparency, thermal and chemical stability, resistance to dirt and environmental agents...) is key to the profitability of the costly investments necessary for the commissioning of these facilities.
Optics
It constitutes one of the main specific applications of glass since the Renaissance, when quality lenses began to be produced with increasingly perfected procedures. Some of the scientific foundations of optics had already been laid before (since the year 1000, Arab mathematicians like Alhacen had studied the geometry of mirrors). However, it was not until Galileo Galilei appeared with his lens telescope, Anton van Leeuwenhoek with his primitive microscope, and Isaac Newton himself with the development of the mirror telescope, when the bases of the importance of optical instruments were definitively established, until reaching the theoretical limits of resolution at the beginning of the century, with the achievements of Carl Zeiss based on the theoretical discoveries of Ernst Abbe, based on the use of different types of glass.
The applications of glass optical technology focus mainly on instruments for image processing and capture; in scientific devices for the study of light; in digital communications; and in the ophthalmological correction of human vision defects through lenses:.
Laboratory material
A large part of the equipment in chemical and pharmaceutical laboratories "Glassware (chemistry)" (test tubes, beakers, flasks, pipettes, condensers "Cooling tube (chemistry)"), plates for microscopic preparations...) is made of glass. Sometimes special glasses are used, prepared to withstand high temperatures or certain chemical attacks.
Appliances
Televisions systematically use glass screens to protect the different systems of luminous pixels through which they form the images.
Conventional ovens, microwave ovens and ceramic cooktops include heat-resistant glass elements in their design.
Likewise, washing machines usually incorporate a circular glass door, and many refrigerators use glass shelves to improve the feeling of space and interior light.
Lightning
Since the invention of gas or oil flame lamps, glass bell jars have been used to prevent both the extinguishing of the flame and its accidental spread. With the invention of the electric incandescent bulb, the characteristic glass bulb that protects the filament has become an irreplaceable element, which has been progressively adapted to the greater thermal requirements demanded by sodium vapor lamps, halogen lamps (with pure silica glass) or xenon lamps (which use special glass). Even in fluorescent tubes, whose operating temperatures are low, the glass that contains the neon gas is an essential element. Only the development of LED light systems (due to their low heat emission) can allow the replacement of glass with translucent plastic materials, which are cheaper, lighter and easier to manufacture.
Many models of lamps in which light points are mounted use glass elements to disperse and give a certain decorative appearance to the light they project. In this sense, we can mention the enormous chandeliers "Spider (lamp)") made up of numerous pieces of interlocked glass, characteristic of the large halls of public and private buildings from the Victorian Era to the First World War.
Cell phones and touch devices
The use of luminous screens (increasingly larger) on cell phones and touch devices, made with especially resistant glass, such as Gorilla Glass, has become widespread.
Watchmaking
Traditionally, watch faces have been protected with domed glass, with flat profiles later adopted. In the case of wristwatches, it is an essential requirement both when they mount pointer devices (to prevent them from being damaged) and when it comes to digital devices (the glass allows the screen to be shown to the outside). High-end watches usually have sapphire crystals, whose extraordinary hardness prevents them from being easily scratched.
Kitchen and kitchenware
Many kitchen utensils can be made of glass (such as platters or bowls). The appearance of borosilicate glass, capable of withstanding very high temperatures, extraordinarily expanded the use of glass in the kitchen, until it became a material widely used in dishes for preparing roasts in the oven.
At the table, both glasses and all types of cups, as well as jugs and containers for most liquids, are usually made of glass, and there are also tableware in which the plates are also made of this material, replacing ceramics.
Decoration and jewelry
Special quality colored glass is frequently used in jewelry, replacing much higher priced natural gems. An example is Swarovski glass, which is used to produce a wide range of decorative products, as well as fashion accessories linked to jewelry.
In other types of products, the sale of colored glass beads that are used in the making of handmade necklaces and bracelets is common, both for marketing and for pure entertainment.