This kind of glass is only slightly thicker than A4 paper.
Cao Xin, deputy director of China National Building Materials Group's Institute of Functional Glass Research Institute, is taking his team to perform the ball dropping experiment of ultra-thin glass to test the performance of ultra-thin glass.
Cao Xin placed 55 grams of steel balls at a height of one meter, and free-falls towards ultra-thin glass. This impact is equivalent to the impact of a family car hitting a wall at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour, but the glass is intact. Lossless.
The thin, fluted glass that was smashed by the ball just went offline in April 2018. The thickness of the thin glass is only 0.12 mm. It is the thinnest glass produced in the world using the float process.
How thin is the 0.12 mm glass? We used the office A4 paper for comparison. The thickness of the two A4 papers is 0.19 mm, which is 0.07 mm thicker than the ultrathin glass.
Cao Xin, deputy director of the Institute of Functional Glass Research, China National Building Materials Group, Cao Xin: In the range of 0.12 mm, I believe this is a world-wide, more amazing achievement.
Ultra-thin glass is also called ultra-thin electronic touch glass. It is the core material of the electronic information display industry and is used as basic materials for mobile phones, computers, and television displays. The thinner the glass, the better the light transmission performance and the better flexibility. The weight will also be reduced. However, the glass is too thin and very fragile. How to make the glass thin and have sufficient strength and toughness is a world problem.
It was precisely because of technological breakthroughs and innovations in China that the international market price for ultra-thin glass was reduced by 2/3. However, Cao Xin did not meet the 0.12 mm thickness. When the 0.12 mm glass batch went offline, he was already Started development of 0.1mm ultra-thin glass.
At the end of the 1950s, Pilkington Glass of the United Kingdom announced to the world that the glass float forming process had been successfully developed, and that countries were scrambling to snap up patents, but Pilkington had independently imposed a technical blockade on China. This situation made it possible for China at the time. The glass industry is aware that it must take a path of independent innovation.
Because of the late start, there was no experience to learn from it. At that time, China’s equipment and technology had a certain gap with foreign countries. It was impossible to make ultrathin glass with a thickness of 1.1 mm or less. The core materials for electronic information display were still subject to foreign monopolies. Electronic product manufacturers not only cannot negotiate prices, but also provide what kind of materials they have to offer.
In order not to be constrained by foreign technology, Peng Shou, the chief scientist of the Institute of Glass Design and Research, and his research team have brought China's ultra-thin glass, with its own intellectual property rights, to the world stage after more than 30 years of exploration.
In June 2014, it exceeded 0.33 mm;
Breakthrough 0.15mm in April 2016;
April 2018 exceeded 0.12 mm.
Made in China again and again set the world record.
Ren Hongcan, General Manager of China Building Materials Information Display Materials Co., Ltd. Ren Hongcan: The market has turned around. Now the downstream has new requirements for products. Now I am taking a sample of market feedback. I will give you an experiment.
Ren Hongcan cut off the 0.33mm ultrathin glass that was used to make the mobile phone screen. It was the product that the customer ordered with them. From the perspective of the appearance, the more finer the pattern, the higher the strength of the glass. In the same kind of products, this kind of intensity has already been considered relatively high. However, the customer puts forward the new request again to Ren Hongcan, wants to increase a magnitude in this strength again.
Although the customer's request can be done, it must be completed through the adjustment of hundreds of process parameters. After the meeting, everyone will go to the production line.
The reporter visited the thinnest glass production base in the world. From the laboratory to large-scale mass production of Chinese materials, the world was amazing.
The ambient temperature of the production line is 40 to 50 degrees, which Ren Hongcan called the most unpleasant factory. Observation of the melting temperature of 1600 degrees is the most vexing thing.
The key to the superior performance of glass is the ratio of raw materials and the chemical changes produced by raw materials during high temperature melting. The temperature in the furnace has a crucial role. The temperature difference between plus and minus 2 degrees will affect the performance of the glass. Therefore, Ren Hongcan Concerned about changes in temperature and the melting of the furnace, there is the slightest deviation, the entire production line of glass will be destroyed, the loss of one day will reach 500,000.
The temperature in the furnace was nearly 1600 degrees, and there was a red dragonfly inside. In addition to stinging the eyes, almost nothing could be seen. In order to visualize the melting inside, Ren Hongcan took out his observation magic - the mirror.
Ren Hongcan: You see it is not like bubbling like porridge, so usually observe this, all use mirrors, take small bubbles, indicating that in the violent reaction.
Through this small mirror, you can see the melting of the inside of the furnace, like bubbles that sizzling when porridge is brewed. Ren Hongcan pays special attention to the situation of bubbles every time. Since the customer proposes to increase the strength of the glass, Ren Hongcan needs to prepare glass. A metal element is added to the raw material. The melting point of this metal element is higher than the melting point of other raw materials, so the melting process should pay special attention. If the bubbles are slightly different, the temperature must be adjusted in time.
The secret to the production of ultra-thin glass, in addition to the high-temperature furnace, is a key step in the tin bath. The melting glass solution in the furnace flows into the tin bath equipment. Because of the high density of the tin liquid, the glass solution can float on the tin liquid surface. 3. The glass is then thinned using a puller and finally it enters the annealing kiln for annealing.
Furnaces, tin baths and annealing are the three most important steps in the production of glass by the float process. There are many parameters that need to be adjusted in each step.
Ren Hongcan: This repetitive process is very devious. To people is a kind of torture. Sometimes it may be more than a dozen hours in the middle. Then you have to keep staring at the scene.
Persistence and innovation allow China's ultra-thin glass to continue to expand in domestic and international markets. Before 2014, Ren Hongcan’s electronic information display materials were almost zero internationally. In just four years, The market share has increased to 40%.
Ren Hongcan: Our current market share should be in the top three in the world.
From laboratory to industrialization, the most difficult is to adjust the process parameters of the production line. The ultra-thin glass sample made by the laboratory is only 10 centimeters wide, while the industrially produced ultra-thin glass is 4 meters wide. The indicators of strength and toughness have a great deal of testing and require tens of thousands of adjustments of process parameters. Each type of glass with different functions needs to readjust process parameters. This process needs to be continued to ensure optimal performance of the glass.
Song Zhiping, Chairman of China National Building Materials Group: In the past, China followed and ran. Next we must lead, from China to China.
The glass that is as thin as a flapper can withstand so much impact. It's no wonder that Cao Xin said that it is an amazing result for the world. Because of these basic materials, China National Building Materials Group has built its own glass kingdom. Develop high-precision glass substrates for various industries.
Half-hour observation: Competition never ends
From scratch, from mistrust to occupying the market, more and more Chinese manufacturing is winning the favor of the market. Behind this is countless people's innovation and persistence.
However, the competition in the manufacturing industry has never ended, the lead is only temporary, and catch-up is the norm.
Moreover, there are too many subdivided products in the manufacturing industry. We are still in a state of follow-up in many areas. Continuously pursuing more perfect products is the goal that China is always looking forward to.
We look forward to more Chinese companies in the future, able to walk in the forefront of world manufacturing.