Compared to non-tempered glass, chemically strengthened glass has a number of improved material properties: it is more resistant to impact, bending and scratching and has a higher thermal shock resistance. As a result, glasses can be made thinner and lighter than non-tempered glass. Until now, however, chemical tempering has been time-consuming and expensive. The glass products are immersed in a special bath of molten salt for several hours to solidify them. However, the salt bath wears out after a few cycles and has to be replaced at great expense. This makes the process interesting only for products in the high-price segment.

Application for automotive jars or bottles for the pharmaceutical and food industries

This is where ReViSalt's solution comes in. With Salt-Clean, the start-up develops, produces and sells application-specific, non-toxic and non-corrosive regeneration materials that counteract salt bath wear. The salt bath needs to be replaced less frequently, which leads to a considerable reduction in application costs. The operating time of a salt bath can thus be doubled to quadrupled, depending on the application.

In addition to the regeneration material, ReViSalt has developed a new process approach for the chemical solidification of glass. The solidification is accelerated and the processing time is shortened many times over. The combination of both processes represents a new stage in the development of chemical strengthening, which opens up completely new application possibilities. "Through our technologies, we are firmly convinced that we can make the glass market more sustainable - with less energy consumption and use of resources while at the same time achieving higher strengths," explains Michael Heidan, one of the two managing directors of ReViSalt GmbH.

With the investment, the team is now in a position to finance the further expansion of production capacity for their innovative technology for the chemical strengthening of glass and the associated regeneration material.

Good conditions for spin-offs at TU Bergakademie Freiberg

The completed investment is also a success for the team of the start-up network SAXEED at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Since mid-2020, the team has been advised by ReViSalt on the path from research project to spin-off. This path was supported by an EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. With the start of EXIST funding, the ReViSalt team participated in the SAXEED Masterclass, SAXEED's 18-month early-stage incubator, which they successfully completed in April 2023.