We have discovered a glass material that does not break, but yields and bends at room temperature. We want to understand what gives glass these new, superior properties. Because if we understand how the properties of a material emerge, we can start manufacturing it, in the future even at industrial scale.

Research topics

The new malleable glass materials are stronger than steel, but much lighter in comparison. Glass materials also have significant electrical, chemical and biological properties and functionalities. We use the latest experimental research methods and supercomputing to understand how this kind of glass is formed and becomes a solid, atom by atom.

Research fields

Ceramic & Glass Science and Technology, Materials Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Thermodynamics

Funding

EU, Academy of Finland, Business Finland, The European Ceramic Society, Finnish Science Foundations

Research career

- Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher, Tampere University, 2021 - 2024

- Postdoctoral Researcher, Tampere University 2020 - 2021

- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow, Italian Institute of Technology, 2019 - 2020

- Postdoctoral Researcher, Italian Institute of Technology, 2018 - 2019

- Doctor of Science in Technology (with distinction), Tampere University of Technology, 2018

- Visiting Researcher, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, 2015 - 2016

Selected publications

Exceptional Microscale Plasticity in Amorphous Aluminum Oxide at Room Temperature (Open Access)

Erkka J. Frankberg et al., Advanced Materials, 2303142, 2023, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202303142

A ceramic that bends instead of shattering (open access here)

Erkka J. Frankberg, Science 27 Oct 2022 : Vol 378, Issue 6618, pp. 359-360, DOI: 10.1126/science.ade7637

Highly ductile amorphous oxide at room temperature and high strain rate (open access here)

Erkka J. Frankberg et al., Science 15 Nov 2019 : Vol. 366, Issue 6467, pp. 864-869, DOI: 10.1126/science.aav1254