Metallic glass sets new safety standards for laboratory equipment manufacturers

Laboratory equipment manufacturers may be able to produce blast screens with higher strength using a type of metallic glass developed by researchers.

Safety screens are an important part of many laboratory environments, allowing physical and chemical processes to be carried out without the risk of injury due to explosion.

Now a team at the California Institute of Technology has created a new kind of glass, bringing together the best properties of the material and of the metal palladium.

Using a palladium alloy as the raw material for the glass helps to give it characteristics usually absent from the material - such as shatter-resistance.

Meanwhile, the inherent strength of the glass remains, rather than suffering from the ease of deformation often seen in metals.

The development could unlock new levels of strength in safety screens created by laboratory equipment manufacturers in the future, although the researchers stress that the 'glass' is not transparent, but shares its appearance with the metal from which it is made.