Structure‐Informed Design of Float‐Compatible Thin Glass Supported by Data‐Driven Screening

ABSTRACT Motivated by growing demand in electronics, automotive, photovoltaic, and architectural applications, thin‐glass products offer substantial potential for material savings and reduced environmental impact, yet their widespread adoption is limited by mechanical instability and reliance on non‐float manufacturing routes. In this work, we establish a comprehensive framework for the design of mechanically robust thin‐glass compositions compatible with conventional float‐glass production. The approach combines (i) structure‐informed, composition–structure–property‐driven design and (ii) data‐driven screening based on artificial intelligence‐assisted predictive modeling. While the data‐driven approach is used to efficiently explore a broad compositional space and identify candidate glasses with high intrinsic elastic modulus and hardness, the primary optimization of chemical strengthening response and processability is achieved through structure‐informed design. Glass compositions within the SiO 2 –Al 2 O 3 –B 2 O 3 –RO–R′ 2 O system (R = Mg, Ca; R′ = Li, Na, K) were designed to target chemical temperability, mechanical durability, and float‐line processability, and were evaluated through thermal, optical, structural, and mechanical analyses. The optimized compositions achieved stress layer depths up to ∼40 µm after chemical tempering, enabling high mechanical performance at reduced thickness. The best‐performing glasses exhibited a ∼10% increase in fracture load and a ∼25% increase in surface hardness at a thickness of 0.75 mm. When benchmarked against standard 1.6 mm soda–lime–silica glass, this corresponds to a reduced areal weight of 1.85 kg m −2 (∼50% lower mass) and an estimated ∼60% reduction in process‐related CO 2 emissions per square meter, based on reduced material usage within the defined boundary. By integrating data‐driven screening with structure‐informed composition design, this work establishes a scalable pathway for next‐generation thin flat glass development, supporting environmentally sustainable and energy‐efficient glass manufacturing.