6. Where will future advances in glass come from?

First of all, the composition itself. We've seen a few examples above of property improvements thanks to new compositions, but the number of possible compositions is virtually infinite. Only a microscopic fraction of the space of possible compositions has been explored. At Saint-Gobain's Aubervilliers research center alone, 200 new compositions are formulated every year. More systematic methods of exploration, similar to those used in combinatorial chemistry, now make it possible to multiply these explorations. Moreover, molecular dynamics calculations, combined with the considerable volume of semi-empirical knowledge accumulated over several centuries, make it possible to improve prediction of the properties of a glass of a given composition. This will enable the development of new glass materials, either simply more efficient in existing applications, or adapted to new, fast-developing...