Looking into the heart of glass

SCHOTT uses modeling and simulation to further develop its processes and products in a strategic manner – by experimenting on the computer. One of the most exciting topics of the future is multiscale materials modeling, says simulation expert Dr. Christoph Berndhäuser.

The starting point is that the many different processes during which material properties form take place on broad spatial and temporal scales. Values such as temperature or stresses can be modeled in the meter to millimeter region on the macroscale. Microstructural, atomistic or even electron-based modeling extends all the way to below the nanometer level, however. These calculations today still reach their limits for industrial applications. It is research’s goal to gradually step down to the various levels in order to ultimately tie them into a consistent multiscale model and thus be able to describe and predict material characteristics in a more comprehensive manner.

“We at SCHOTT are extremely active in this area and work on topological models. These provide information on different glass structures, which already enables us to successfully describe different glass properties,” says Dr. Berndhäuser.