They can take quite a bit of thermal shock (it is a ceramic glass composite)

Possibly linux@lemmy.zip to Memes@sopuli.xyz – 106 points –

I sanded mine and now I have a non stick pan. I just can't use metal utensils as it does scratch.

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Is this for real? Do these exist and are they any good?

They are amazing. I can see what's happening without removing the lid. They are shock resistant so you can take it out of the freezer and put on the stove.

The actual material is called pyroceram and it has been used in the defense and aerospace industry. It van take a massive beating and is very resistant to shattering.

I believe it's also the same type of glass that's used on a lot of electric stoves, so it can definitely withstand extreme heat shock.

Though, even knowing that, I'd still be (irrationally) afraid to use these, only because of some bad experiences with some "shatter-proof" Pyrex glassware in the past.

Pyrex is fraud!

I bought two Pyrex bowls and went to a glass blower to get them modified. The first one shattered and the glass blower then looked at both of them under polarized light: they both showed strong signs of internal stress. The glass blower was really angry and accused the producer of cheating, because the color was also a slight green, which meant iron was in there, which should not be the case. According to the glass blower in the professional line Pyrex seems to be worth something, but for normal customer? Not really.

There's a cool thing where pyrex, Pyrex, and PYREX are all different kinds of glass, age only one of them is the really good scientific-grade glass.

Oh, that might explain it then. Strange that the glass blower didn't know that.

Only PYREX is the original borosilicate glass. The other two are made with soda lime glass by a different manufacturer.

It isn't glass. It is a composite material

Those two aren't mutually exclusive.

In fact, Pyroceram is according to Wikipedia a glass-ceramic.

It is a glass which has a special composition and was heated so much, that it loses some part of its glass character but retains some other. So calling it a glass is not wrong.

Yeah my mom had a set when I was a little kid. I dunno what happened to it.

Yes. Here is an example. But you can usually find these in thrift stores for much cheaper, just check the condition before purchase. Avoid chipped or scratched up pieces.

Yep, here's a video about it and an example of an egg being fried on it.

Glass is a pretty poor thermal conductor so it takes a bit more heat from your stove to make the frying pan hot, but at the same time it means that whatever you're frying isn't getting as hot as quickly so it's less likely to burn or cook unevenly, and you can shut down the stove earlier than with a traditional pan and still have it fry something.

Like most things in life, it's a trade off and what you think of it depends on what you're going and how you want it to be done

Can you elaborate on sanding to create a nonstick surface? How long does it last/does it require periodic re-sanding? Does it make it harder or easier to clean burned on residue?

I just removed the scratches on mine. As long as they aren't to deep you can sand them out. It will last forever as long as you don't scratch it.

It isn't a perfect nonstick surface but it is good enough for me. Sometimes things will still stick but there is little places for things to burn into.

Ah, so the scratch removal, not the sanding, is what improved the nonstick attribute. Thanks for clarifying

No you are misunderstanding still. I sanded it to remove the scratches.

Oh, I had assumed scratches were causing sticking

They do but you ate never going to be able make it perfectly smooth. All you can do is make burnt material come off with a strong wipe and maybe minimal stubbing