At their November meeting, the ICG’s Committees highlighted their successes and research directions, and held a business session to support and guide these activities. Future plans include courses on Basic Glass Science, an International Symposium on Glass Crystallisation, a third symposium on Glass and Entropy, workshops on conservation of museum pieces, a Summer School, another GOMD workshop, and sessions at the ICG Annual Meeting in Maastricht.
ICG’s Steering and Coordinating Technical Committees (CTC) gathered at the Stevanato Group Headquarters in Piombino Dese, Italy, 10 and 11 November 2011. Firstly, the technical committee (TC) chairs highlighted their successes and research directions; a business session followed to support and guide these activities. The Steering Committee covered topics ranging from responsible financing to membership changes.
CTC has recently re-balanced its TC clusters into: Basics; Applications; Characterization; Glass Production, and Communications. An exciting feature is increased linking between TCs, even across cluster boundaries. Operationally, production cluster is most difficult; commercial and legislative interests are critical so road maps for pre-competitive activities are being developed.
Round Robin activities are invaluable and include: Sb leach rates from low Fe glass, analysis of low Fe limestones, fluorine analysis in optical glass, durability at high humidities, As release in Pharma ampoules, high purity SiO2, borosilicate glass structure assessment using complementary techniques, edge strength measurement, screening for bioactivity, and an ASTM standard on liquidus temperature measurement in opaque systems. Several TCs study surfaces and optical effects e.g. low emissivity glasses, tin in float glass, glass composition-property relationships, solar radiation control by enhanced UV & IR reflectivity, self cleaning glasses and the optical and electrical characteristics of coated glasses for devices. Other TCs examine the impact of environmental legislation such as REACH and BREF BAT and the high temperature chemistry of gases in glass in relation to seed formation. Three TCs apply modelling to furnaces, glass forming and atomistic simulation; goals are improved reliability and innovative approaches.
ICG encourages publication; currently books on Bioglasses, Crystallization and Collective Vibrational Modes in Glass are progressing with a possible catalogue of glass related museums. Many TCs organize conferences e.g. in 2011 NCM11, a meeting on Structure and Vibrations, a GOMD workshop plus road-mapping seminars. Future plans include courses on Basic Glass Science, an International Symposium on Glass Crystallisation, a third symposium on Glass and Entropy, workshops on conservation of museum pieces, a Summer School, another GOMD workshop, and sessions at the ICG Annual Meeting in Maastricht. These activities are supported by a re-designed website (www.icglass.org).
The Steering Committee examines the candidature for ICG membership of national and other organizations; six new organizations from Iran, India, China and US are currently in discussions. The 2015 Annual Meeting organisers will be decided at the ICG Council meeting in Maastricht in June 2012. The 2011 Financial Report was presented followed by a discussion on risk management. The Advisory Committee reported the results of a questionnaire regarding the role of ICG within the global glass industry; a further meeting is planned. A roadmapping Pharma workshop is planned in March 2012.
Attendees of the meeting were also shown the Stevanato Group factory, which converts tubing into ampoules, vials, cartridges and syringes for the pharmaceutical industry, made to tight dimensional tolerances and use sophisticated digital camera technology for dimensional and cosmetic quality control.