The 2nd ICG-CGCRI Tutorial 2021
Summary written by Meriem Sassi
The 2nd ICG-CGCRI tutorial 2021 was organized by the International Commission on Glass (ICG) and the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CSIR-CGCRI, Kolkata, India) on 18-23 and 25-27 January 2021. From Hungary, Meriem Sassi, a Ph.D. student of the University of Miskolc (Faculty of Materials Science, Institute of Ceramics and Polymer Engineering) supervised by dr. Andrea Simon, got the chance to participate in this tutorial. In the following, a brief summary of the event is introduced by Meriem.
The Training Staff was formed by the greatest international scientists: Prof. R. Conradt (Germany), Prof. J. M. Parker (UK), Prof. Alicia Duran (Spain), Prof. M. K. Choudhary (USA), Prof. Ana C.M. Rodrigues (Brazil), Prof. B. Hehlen (France), Prof. P. Florian (France), Prof. A. Varshneya (USA), Prof. R. Vacher (France), Prof. John Mauro (USA), Prof. Akira Takada (Japan), Prof. E. D. Zanotto (Brazil), Prof. S. Tanabe (Japan), Prof. R. J. Hand (UK), Prof. A. R. Boccaccini (Germany), Mr. Sitendu Mandal (India), Prof. Dipankar Banerjee (India) and Dr. Dipayan Sanyal (India). The tutorial was assisted by experts in the glass field from around the world. The program lasted 9 days. The extensive courses started with the glass basics; the evolution theories on glass structures, glass melting process, optical properties and chemical durability of the glass. After that, we moved to the characterization methods of the glass such as neutron and X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technique. Another focus was on the mechanical properties of the glass, strengthening techniques and ion conductivity. Atomistic simulation of the glass, which is an important aspect for modeling, was detailed in the tutorial. Furthermore, glass ceramics were highlighted along with nuclear waste vitrification. Bioactive glasses with special importance of glasses in the medical field regarding how to secure Covid-19 vaccine transportation in the glass containers were proposed. More information about the tutorial can be read here: https://icg-cgcri-tutorial2021.com/
Along with the courses, students and attendants from the industry were divided in 11 groups where a project was assigned to each team. Our project was to study the practicalities of producing foam glass using the vacuum bubbles method compared to powder sintering. The main challenge was the limited literature about the vacuum bubble method which is usually used to produce polymer foams. Another use of the vacuum bubble technology is fining and degassing during glass melting. We combined the two methods to create a new technique for the foam glass production and concluded the advantages and disadvantages of using both methods. Despite being penalized due to the absence of some of the team members, we finished in second place and we were awarded a silver medal.
I am very grateful for this opportunity. It was a successful tutorial with which I get the chance to broaden my knowledge and to meet professors, students and experts from around the world.