Hollow glass microspheres is not a new technology. Anyone can buy hollow glass microspheres and they have a wide variety of uses. Hollow glass microspheres are usually between 1 to 100 microns in diameter, although their size can range from 100 nanometers to 5 millimeters in diameter.
Hollow glass microspheres are used as lightweight filler in composite materials such as syntactic foam and lightweight concrete.
In the case of hollow glass microspheres, SRS and SRNL have been involved in both the science and engineering of vitreous or glass based systems. As a part of this hollow glass microspheres experience and expertise, SRNL has developed a number of niches in the glass arena, one of which is the development of porous glass systems for a variety of applications. These porous glass systems include sol gel glasses, which include both xerogels and aerogels, as well as phase separated hollow glass microspheres compositions, that can be subsequently treated to produce another unique type of porosity within the hollow glass microspheres forms.
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