Fracture mechanics.
Unfortunately, the theory of fracture mechanics in brittle materials is quite laborious - though interesting. Fortunately, we already have an excellent start on the subject in our article on fracture mechanics. Key texts in this field have been authored by R.W.Davidge, Brian Lawn and David Green as part of the Cambridge Solid State Science Series, with UCSB's A.G 'Tony' Evans from Princeton on the cutting edge in the field of composite materials. Based on the texts alone, we could easily double (or even triple) the size of the current article to include additional key factors, such as the movement of dislocations (and other microstructural features), the local chemistry in the vicinity of a crack tip, and their net impact on creep, fatigue, plastic deformation and crack tip propagation in glasses and glass-ceramics.
Things to do, Glass Physics:
Some of the articles do not contain any section understandable for a layman, for example Viscosity of amorphous materials, Physics of glass, or Glass transition. However, an encyclopedia should, besides providing highly technical information, also be accessible to the public and arose interest in beginning students.
Expansion of the article about Ernst Abbe, whose optics research, such as about the Abbe sine condition stimulated the beginning of glass science because high-quality glasses with specific optical properties were desired for practical tests, leading finally to a strong development of the company of Carl Zeiss.
Preparation of a task force Optics, based on the old project.
Glass chemistry is important for environmetal protection, e.g., for glass recycling, for developing lead-free crystal glasses, fiberglasses with reduced boron content, glasses free or arsenic, antimony, barium, and strontium for flat panel display substrates, and radioactive waste vitrification strategies.
The Sol-gel technique may be used for making bulk glasses of unusual composition that can not be obtained otherwise by the traditional melting. In addition, coatings may be prepared by the sol-gel technique.
Glass-ceramics are made as glasses by melting. However, afterwards a tempering step leads to devitrification, to crystallization. Glass-ceramics may have improved fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance compared to normal glass.
Porous glass, made by phase separation of sodium borosilicate glass or similar compositions, continues to be one of the most investigated amorphous solids, applied in industry, medicine, pharmacy research, biotechnology and sensor technology.
Hollow glass microspheres are used, among else, as lightweight filler in composite materials, and serve as storage and slow release medium for pharmaceuticals, radioactive tracers, and hydrogen.
The chemical analysis of glass compositions (in particular for archeological purposes) is discussed in the article Robert H. Brill.
Introduction: The introduction does not yet include all sections accordingly, for example, the art and history section are not well introduced.
Proper referencing: Most sections are not properly referenced, e.g., they contain some statements at the end of paragraphs that have no reference. These sections are: Glass ingredients Done -KAP03(Talk • Contributions • Email) 15:23, 21 May 2017 (UTC), Contemporary glass production, Network glasses, Glass versus a supercooled liquid, Behavior of antique glass, Color, History, Islamic world, Medieval Europe, and Murano glassmaking.
History section:Roman glass should be shortly discussed; just the reference to the main article is not consistent with the other sections in the glass article. The same is valid for Anglo-Saxon glass and Forest glass (Late medieval Northern Europe). As a whole, the topic "glass history" is still not shown as unitary, but composed of many pieces that not always fit well.
Glass containing Cu or Ag ions, colored on the surface by exposing to hydrogen at elevated temperature, thereby reducing Cu or Ag compounds to the metal
Coloring by ion exchange
Surface coloring of glass by organic coatings or via the sol-gel method
Discussion of the coloring mechanism in ionically colored glasses and striking glasses, e.g., using the crystal field theory
Further glass engineering & technology topics and things to do
Things to do, Glass Engineering & Technology:
The article Glass production is in need of attention. It shortly deals with commercial glass melting and then with glass container production. Flat glass production is in a separate article, however. Therefore, on the discussion page of the glass production article it is suggested to split the glass container production off.
Geology, glass in nature: Glass is forming in nature during high-temperature events involving silicate compounds, followed by rapid cooling, as it occurs during volcanic eruptions (see volcanic glass such as obsidian), meteorite impacts (e.g., tektite), and lightning strikes (e.g., fulgurite). The categories Glass in nature and Vitreous rocks contain all glass articles relevant to geology.
Each paragraph should end with at least one reference, as long as it is not trivial and common knowledge. References in the middle of a paragraph are usually not valid for the sentences afterwards in the same paragraph.
The chemical composition is only given as 70-75% (probably percent by weight?) SiO2 plus MgO, Fe3O4, and water. This should be refined.
The natural weathering process of obsidian is only very shortly described (transformation to perlite) and should be expanded. It is used in archeology for estimating the age of obsidian artifacts such as spear heads and knifes.
