FunGlass & Researchers’ Night (University of Padova)

The Researchers’ Night is a mega event taking place every year on a single September night in about 300 cities all over Europe, including Padova, Verona and Venice, in Northeast Italy.

It is basically aimed at showing what researchers really do and why it matters for daily life. Visitors are invited at behind-the-scenes guided tours of research labs that are normally closed to the public, interactive science shows, hands-on experiments or workshops.

FunGlass contributed to the Researchers’ Night in Padova, held on September 28^th, in the workshop organized by the Department of Industrial Engineering (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale), hosted in front of the University of Padova main building (Palazzo Bo, https://www.unipd.it/en/palazzo-bo-and-anatomical-theatre). More precisely, the Advanced Ceramics and Glasses (AGC) group, represented by Prof. Enrico Bernardo, showed the activities, in the framework of FunGlass, concerning Additive Manufacturing (“3D printing”) of glasses and glass-ceramics and upcycling of industrial waste (comprising waste glass) in the manufacturing of glass foams.

FunGlass researcher Dr. Arish Dasan disseminated his research on additive manufacturing – especially stereolithography – of glass-ceramics and contributed to short experiments on stereolithography of acrylic polymers (normally constituting binders for glass powders). AGC disseminated also its expertise in the obtainment of glass foams by alkali activation of suspensions of glass powders, followed by intensive mechanical stirring (AGC showed ‘Glass Cappuccino’ experiments, consisting of the mechanical foaming of glass suspensions, without alkali activator, just by addition of surfactants).