However, I've not been able to find much on carbon-oxgen based glass. It's possible to make glass out of CO2 gas, under high pressure. However, at standard pressure, the glass boils off into CO2.
There are definitely some unconnected dots in the story. I have a sense that what is needed is to reproduce this allegedly vitrefied organic material in the lab.
Could this actually be more like a plastic? Some thermoplastics share characteristics with the category of glass, like having amorphous structure and a gradual softening resembling glass transition temperature.
Conversely, we could say that glass, such as a common silica glass, is a kind of thermoplastic.
we have language like "[a]bove its glass transition temperature and below its melting point, the physical properties of a thermoplastic change drastically without an associated phase change."
"Besides common silica-based glasses many other inorganic and organic materials may also form glasses, including [...] nitrates, carbonates, plastics, acrylic, and many other substances."
There are definitely some unconnected dots in the story. I have a sense that what is needed is to reproduce this allegedly vitrefied organic material in the lab.
Could this actually be more like a plastic? Some thermoplastics share characteristics with the category of glass, like having amorphous structure and a gradual softening resembling glass transition temperature. Conversely, we could say that glass, such as a common silica glass, is a kind of thermoplastic.
In:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic
we have language like "[a]bove its glass transition temperature and below its melting point, the physical properties of a thermoplastic change drastically without an associated phase change."
Also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Polymers
"Many polymer thermoplastics familiar to everyday use are glasses."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Non-silicate_glasses
"Besides common silica-based glasses many other inorganic and organic materials may also form glasses, including [...] nitrates, carbonates, plastics, acrylic, and many other substances."