GlassNet: A multitask deep neural network for predicting many glass properties

Abstract

A multitask deep neural network model was trained on more than 218k different glass compositions. This model, called GlassNet, can predict 85 different properties (such as optical, electrical, dielectric, mechanical, and thermal properties, as well as density, viscosity/relaxation, crystallization, surface tension, and liquidus temperature) of glasses and glass-forming liquids of different chemistries (such as oxides, chalcogenides, halides, and others). The model and the data used to train it are available in the GlassPy Python module as free and open source software for the community to use and build upon. As a proof of concept, GlassNet was used with the MYEGA viscosity equation to predict the temperature dependence of viscosity and outperformed another general purpose viscosity model available in the literature (ViscNet) on unseen data. An explainable AI algorithm (SHAP) was used to extract knowledge correlating the input (physicochemical information) and output (glass properties) of the model, providing valuable insights for glass manufacturing and design. It is hoped that GlassNet, with its free and open source nature, can be used to enable faster and better computer-aided design of new technological glasses.