Optically transparent glass ceramic materials comprising a glass phase containing and a crystalline tungsten bronze phase comprising nanoparticles and having the formula M.sub.xWO.sub.3, where M includes at least one H, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zn, Cu, Ag, Sn, Cd, In, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and U, and where 0<x<1. Aluminosilicate and zinc-bismuth-borate glasses comprising at least one of Sm.sub.2O.sub.3, Pr.sub.2O.sub.3, and Er.sub.2O.sub.3 are also provided.

The present invention relates to a glass ceramic having a lithium aluminosilicate composition and including a crystal and a residual glass, in which the residual glass has a composition including, in terms of mol % based on oxides: 25% to 70% of SiO.sub.2; 3% to 35% of Al.sub.2O.sub.3; 0.1% to 20% of Li.sub.2O; 0.1% to 20% of Na.sub.2O; 0% to 10% of K.sub.2O; and 1% to 15% of ZrO.sub.2, and a parameter V is −600 or more and 720 or less, the parameter V being calculated based on the following formula: V=49.589×[SiO.sub.2]+61.806×[Al.sub.2O.sub.3]+45.456×[P.sub.2O.sub.5]+41.151×[MgO]+110.26×[CaO]+50.263×[SrO]+55.693×[Li.sub.2O]+3.598×[Na.sub.2O]+9.503×[K.sub.2O]+6.83×[TiO.sub.2]−2.885×[ZrO.sub.2]−3746.99.

A glass article includes a central layer including a first crystalline phase having a first coefficient of thermal expansion and a surface layer surrounding an entirety of the central layer and including a second crystalline phase having a second coefficient of thermal expansion smaller than the first coefficient of thermal expansion. Accordingly, the strength of the glass article may be improved.

A glass ceramic contains the following components by wt %: 60 to 80% of SiO.sub.2; 4 to 20% of Al.sub.2O.sub.3; 0 to 15% of Li.sub.2O; more than 0 but less than or equal to 12% of Na.sub.2O; 0 to 5% of K.sub.2O; more than 0 but less than or equal to 5% of ZrO.sub.2; 0 to 5% of P.sub.2O.sub.5; and 0 to 10% of TiO.sub.2. A crystalline phase contains at least one of R.sub.2SiO.sub.3, R.sub.2Si.sub.2O.sub.5, R.sub.2TiO.sub.3, R.sub.4Ti.sub.5O.sub.12, R.sub.3PO.sub.3, RAlSi.sub.2O.sub.6, RAlSiO.sub.4O.sub.10, R.sub.2Al.sub.2Si.sub.2O.sub.8, R.sub.4Al.sub.4Si.sub.5O.sub.18, quartz and quartz solid solution. With a liquidus temperature below 1,450° C., a thermal conductivity above 2 w/m.Math.k, and a Vickers hardness above 600 kgf/mm2, the glass ceramic is applicable to portable electronic devices and optical devices.

A cover glass is provided that includes a silica based glass ceramic with a thickness between 0.4 mm and 0.85 mm. The glass ceramic has a transmittance of more than 80% from 380 nm to 780 nm and a stress attribute selected from: an overall compressive stress (CS) of at least 250 MPa and at most 1500 MPa, a compressive stress at a depth of 30 μm (CS30) from one of the two faces of at least 160 MPa and at most 525 MPa, a depth of the compression layer (DoCL) of at least 0.2 times the thickness and less than 0.5 times the thickness, and any combinations thereof. The glass ceramic has at least one silica based crystal phase having in a near-surface layer a unit cell volume of at least 1% by volume larger than that of a core where the crystal phase has minimum stresses.

A bioactive glass-ceramic composition as defined herein. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the disclosed compositions.

The present invention provides a microcrystalline glass and microcrystalline glass product with excellent mechanical properties, microcrystalline glass product, the components of which, expressed in weight percent, contain: SiO.sub.2: 65 ∼80%; AI.sub.2O.sub.3: below 5%; Li.sub.2O: 10 ∼25%; ZrO.sub.2: 5 ∼15%; P.sub.2O.sub.5: 1 ∼8%. Through the reasonable component design, the microcrystalline glass product obtained by the present invention have excellent mechanical properties.

ZrO.sub.2-toughened glass ceramics having high molar fractions of tetragonal ZrO.sub.2 and fracture toughness value of greater than 1.8 MPa.Math.m.sup.1/2. The glass ceramic may also include also contain other secondary phases, including lithium silicates, that may be beneficial for toughening or for strengthening through an ion exchange process. Additional second phases may also decrease the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass ceramic. A method of making such glass ceramics is also provided.

Embodiments of a transparent glass-based material comprising a glass phase and a second phase that is different from and is dispersed in the glass phase are provided. The second phase may comprise a crystalline or a nanocrystalline phase, a fiber, and/or glass particles. In some embodiments, the second phase is crystalline. In one or more embodiments, the glass-based material has a transmittance of at least about 88% over a visible spectrum ranging from about 400 nm to about 700 nm and a fracture toughness of at least about 0.9 MPa.Math.m.sup.1/2, and wherein a surface of the glass-based material, when scratched with a Knoop diamond at a load of at least 5 N to form a scratch having a width w, is free of chips having a size of greater than 3 w.

Glass-ceramics and precursor glasses that are crystallizable to glass-ceramics are disclosed. The glass-ceramics of one or more embodiments include rutile, anatase, armalcolite or a combination thereof as the predominant crystalline phase. Such glasses and glass-ceramics may include compositions of, in mole %: SiO.sub.2 in the range from about 45 to about 75; Al.sub.2O.sub.3 in the range from about 4 to about 25; P.sub.2O.sub.5 in the range from about 0 to about 10; MgO in the range from about 0 to about 8; R.sub.2O in the range from about 0 to about 33; ZnO in the range from about 0 to about 8; ZrO.sub.2 in the range from about 0 to about 4; B.sub.2O.sub.3 in the range from about 0 to about 12, and one or more nucleating agents in the range from about 0.5 to about 12. In some glass-ceramic articles, the total crystalline phase includes up to 20% by weight of the glass-ceramic article.