6000+
Glass services
delivered in the last 5 years
£10m+
Funding
secured for project work
1000+
Clients
we've worked with in the last 5 years
68
Countries
we have worked in
Expertise & Leadership
Dr Nick Kirk
Technical Director
Nick is a glass expert with decades of experience in all aspects of sustainability, glass production, and product design across the global glass supply chain. Read More
Areas of expertise:
Glass production Sustainability and recycling Product design
Gareth Jones
Operations & Commercial Director
Gareth is our Operations & Commercial Director and works with a range of organisations across the global glass industry. He supports them in working towards their business targets, and ensures that our services meet the industry’s current and future requirements. Read More
Areas of expertise:
Strategy development and implementation Marketing Business development
Services
Glass failure analysis
Glass failure (or fracture) analysis is a powerful tool combining glass fractography and microscopy to diagnose and determine the root cause of a breakage or product failure. We also complete preventative quality assessments to potentially stop issues occurring in the future. We provide analysis for products spanning all sectors, including food and drink packaging, domestic glass, furniture, scientific glassware and pharmaceutical packaging.
Products this service is relevant to:
Glass production, processing, and packing line audits
Our glass production and processing experts provide manufacturers, suppliers, brand owners and customers with line and process audits to optimise glass production, processing, and food and drink operations. We work with companies involved in all stages of glass supply, from raw materials through to the end product. In emergencies, we can undertake site visits at short notice to identify issues quickly, allowing production to resume and minimising financial losses.
Products this service is relevant to:
Glass defects and contamination analysis
Our technical experts analyse glass composition and causes of defects to quickly resolve your production issues. We undertake composition analysis of inclusions, stone, cord, knot, bubbles and blisters, and we examine surface contamination, delamination, misting and blooms. We also assess forming defects and quality concerns in finished products.
Areas we work in:
Glass composition analysis
We provide ISO/IEC 17025-accredited composition analysis, enabling glass manufacturers to confirm that glass has been made as intended, and potentially determine the cause of a problem. Our methods are created specifically for glass, so they’re accurate and reproducible.
Areas we work in:
Bespoke glass development and manufacture
Our experts provide a series of small-scale melting trials to confirm the suitability of new raw materials in glass production. We use comparative melting trials to establish differences between compositions or refining systems. The normal trial we offer is based on melting four glasses. The melts are all made to produce 250g of glass. We study the melting and refining of each formulation for 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes, at a temperature comparable with the customer’s melting temperature.
Laser process development
We can help you develop laser processing techniques tailored specifically to glass materials. We have specialist expertise in areas including laser welding technologies, laser cutting, additive manufacture (3D printing) and targeted property modification. Working together, we can develop new products for sectors such as micro-machining, biomedical technologies and advanced optics. We support and collaborate with partners and customers spanning academia and industry.
Areas we work in:
Glass durability and elemental migration analysis
Our experts can verify that your glass complies with international and industry standards. Our durability analysis and testing ensures it’s fit for purpose, it provides the appropriate level of chemical resistance, and it meets all required standards. This is vital for chemically sensitive products such as parenteral pharmaceuticals. However, it is also important to ensure the safety of packaging, preparatory surfaces and vessels for foods and drinks.
Areas we work in:
Finite element analysis (FEA) modelling
We use finite element analysis (FEA) modelling to provide insights into a vast range of processes and scenarios. We combine our software capability with expertise in glass materials and glass manufacture to model heat transfer and stress generating processes, ranging from furnaces to laser processing. This provides vital information that allows you to minimise costs and reduce the probability of failures.
Areas we work in:
Expert witness
We provide expert witness support to individuals, companies, insurers, loss adjusters, trading standards and law firms regarding the use of glass, product standards and failures. Our scientists have unrivalled glass expertise in manufacturing, processing, materials sciences, chemistry, physics and engineering. Together, we hold over 400 years’ collective glass experience.
Areas we work in:
News Article
University of Sheffield students' potential breakthrough solutions on glass melt stirrer design
Revolutionising optical and photonic glass production: University of Sheffield students' technical and commercial presentations on advanced glass melt stirrer design.
Recent projects
Project
EnviroAsh investigates the potential for using biomass and other wastes as raw materials across the foundation industries
This project has identified opportunities to convert waste materials and other by-products from across the foundation industries into new raw materials for glass, ceramic and cement products.
Project
AI6S project examines energy and waste reduction in the foundation industries
We will be taking part in the AI6S project which will develop a novel toolkit for process optimisation across the glass, cement, paper, ceramics, metals and bulk chemicals industries.
Project
A market survey of applications and manufacturing processes of foam glass
BRE and Glass Technology Services investigated the use of waste material to generate a building product or high value lightweight aggregate for insulation purposes.
Project
Bottle rightweighting - beer, cider and spirits
Bottle rightweighting - a process of packaging design and production to optimise packaging weight, whilst taking into account the requirements of all stakeholders in the supply chain, including manufacturers, brand owners, fillers, retailers, consumers and the environment.
