Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute

The Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute of Kolkata established one of its centers in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh in 1981, with the assurance of constant financial assistance from the state government of Uttar Pradesh. Khurja is a small town located in the district of Bulandshahar, U.P., that has been known for its 600-year old pottery craftsmanship tradition. The institute was built here with the aim to develop the rural and small-scale sector ceramic industry and developing creaming and allied industries in UP. Presently, it has about 494 small-scale units, making it among the largest whiteware clusters of India.

CGCRI has, over the years, focused not only on the development of optical glass but also on modern techniques in glass and ceramic, basic studies on the generation of colour in glasses, evaluating different minerals that are available in the country for their utility in specific uses, and developing high-temperature combustion boats.

CGCRI also carried out a ‘defensive research’ on import substitution, development of laser glass, infra-red transmitting filters, high-temperature protective enamels, high alumina ceramic seals and spacers, and synthetic quartz single crystal. There has also been research work on foam glass, glass bonded mica, and steel plant refractories.

As of year, 2019, CGCRI has noted about 16 patents, 180 publications, and 42 extramural project initiation.

The range of specialty glasses made and developed by CGCRI include atomic radiation shielding glass, glasses for glass to metal seals, foam glass or multi-cellular glass, infra-red transmitting glass, the plasma display panel (PDP), laser glass, chemically toughened glass, ultra-low expansion translucent glass (ULET) and glass-reinforced gypsum.

The different courses offered by CGCRI are in the areas of Advanced Ceramics and Composites, Bioceramics& Coating, Energy Materials and Devices, Fiber Optics and Photonics, Functional Materials & Devices, Refractory & Traditional Ceramics, Specialty Glass, Water Technology, Material Characterization & Instrumentation, Project Planning and Business Development, Safety & Transport, Information Technology, Knowledge & IP Management, Engineering Services, and Advanced Material and Chemical Characterization.

The Khurja center of CGCRI offers industrial and scientific research and development in the fields of ceramics of glass and of other related materials that shall increase and maximize the benefits to the industry from the economic aspect, the environmental aspect, and from the societal view. Certain other research & development projects undertaken are public-private partnership projects which receive sponsorships by private and/or public sector enterprises, which can be internationally very competitive.

Developing new low-cost technologies by utilizing conventional raw materials, non-conventional raw materials, waste raw material, consultancy and technical assistance in solving day-to-day problems, quality improvement, productivity improvement, product design, process improvement, energy efficiency improvement, and cost reduction are the main focus areas of the undergoing projects. Other projects include exploring a source of technical infrastructure, energy conservation, pollution control, waste minimization, and white-ware cluster development. Also, providing infra-structural services and technical advisories like testing and evaluation, training and education, project engineering, and dissemination of scientific information to the public domain are some of the areas of research and development taken up by the institute.

Some partners of the Institutes that hire students from CGCRI are DRDO, ISRO, Balasore Alloys Limited, Govt. of West Bengal, ONGC, Ministry of Steel, ITC, BHEL, NBCFDC, Tata Steel, Johnson, HAL, PCRA, Indian Railways, Bharat Electronics, Berger, Bioradmedisys, and SFO Technologies.