Gorilla Glass

Nokia N8 gorilla glass screen

Gorilla Glass is a brand of specialized toughened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its fifth generation,[1] designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant. Gorilla Glass is unique to Corning; but close equivalents exist, including Asahi Glass Co., Dragontrail and Schott AG Xensation.[2][3]

The alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass is used primarily as cover glass for portable electronic devices, including mobile phones, portable media players, portable computer displays, and television screens.[4] It is manufactured in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, US; Asan, Korea;[5] and Taiwan.

The glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and crack-resistance by being immersed in a proprietary, hot potassium salt ion-exchange bath.

History

Corning experimented with chemically strengthened glass in 1960, as part of a "Project Muscle" initiative. Within a few years they had developed a "muscled glass"[6] marketed as Chemcor. The product was used until the early 1990s in commercial and industrial applications, including automotive, aviation and pharmaceutical uses,[6] notably in approximately one hundred 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda racing cars, where minimizing the vehicle's weight was essential.[7] Experimentation was revived in 2005, investigating whether the glass could be made thin enough for use in consumer electronics. It was brought into commercial use when Apple asked Corning for a thin, toughened glass; it was used in the new iPhone.[8]

Development

Version Announced
1 February 2008[9]
2 January 2012[10]
3 January 2013[11]
4 November 2014
5 July 2016
SR+ August 2016[12]

Corning further developed the material for a variety of smartphones and other consumer electronics devices for a range of companies.[13][14][15]

The manufacturer markets the material's primary properties as its high scratch-resistance (protective coating) and its hardness (with a Vickers hardness test rating of 622 to 701),[16] which allows the glass to be thin without fragility. It can be recycled.[13]

By 2010 the glass had been used in approximately 20% of mobile handsets worldwide, about 200 million units.[17] The second generation, called "Gorilla Glass 2", was introduced in 2012. On October 24, 2012, Corning announced that over one billion mobile devices used Gorilla Glass.[18] Gorilla Glass 2 is 20% thinner than the original Gorilla Glass.[19]

Gorilla Glass 3 was introduced at CES 2013. According to Corning, the material is up to three times more scratch-resistant than the previous version, with enhanced ability to resist deep scratches that typically weaken glass.[20] The promotional material for Gorilla Glass 3 claims that it is 40% more scratch-resistant, in addition to being more flexible.[21] The design of Gorilla Glass 3 was Corning's first use of atomic-scale modeling before the material was melted in laboratories, with the prediction of the optimal composition obtained through the application of rigidity theory.[22]

When Gorilla Glass 3 was announced Corning indicated that areas for future improvements included reducing reflectivity and susceptibility to fingerprint smudges, and changing the surface treatments and the way it is finished.[19] Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass with ionic silver, which is antibacterial, incorporated into its surface was demonstrated in early 2014.[23]

Gorilla Glass 4, with better damage resistance and capability to be made thinner with the same performance as its predecessor, was announced at the end of 2014.[24]

Gorilla Glass 5 was first used on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in 2016.[25]

Gorilla Glass SR+ was first used on the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch in 2016.[26]

Gorilla Glass has also addressed the automobile market. Ford Motor Company announced it will be using the material for the front and rear windshields on its Ford GT sports car beginning in 2016.[27]

Manufacture

During its manufacture, the glass is toughened by ion exchange. The material is immersed in a molten alkaline potassium salt at a temperature of approximately 400 °C (750 °F),[28] wherein smaller sodium ions in the glass are replaced by larger potassium ions from the salt bath. The larger ions occupy more volume and thereby create a surface layer of high residual compressive stress at the surface, giving the glass surface increased strength, ability to contain flaws,[29] and overall crack-resistance,[30] making it resistant to damage from everyday use.[28]

On October 26, 2011, Corning announced the commercial launch of Lotus Glass, designed for OLED and next-generation LCD displays.[31] The intrinsic thermal consistency of Lotus Glass allows it to retain its shape and quality during high-temperature processing. Decreased compaction and variation during the crystallization and activation step further reduce stress and distortions to the substrate. This enables tighter design rules in advanced backplanes for higher resolution and faster response time.[32] According to Corning, Gorilla Glass is specifically a cover glass for the exterior of display devices while Lotus Glass is designed as a glass substrate to be used within liquid crystal display panels. In other words, a product could use both Gorilla Glass and Lotus Glass.[33] On February 2, 2012, Corning Incorporated and Samsung Mobile Display Co., Ltd. signed an agreement to establish a new equity venture for the manufacture of specialty glass substrates for the OLED device market in Korea. The joint venture is based on Lotus Glass.[34] Lotus XT Glass became available in 2013.[35]

In 2012, Corning introduced Willow Glass,[36] a flexible glass based on borosilicate glass,[37] launched for use as a display substrate.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gorilla Glass 4 shouldn't shatter when you drop your phone". Engadget, November 20, 2014, John Fingas.
  2. ↑ "Gorilla Glass maker unveils ultra-thin and flexible Willow Glass". Physics News. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  3. ↑ "Xensation". Schott. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  4. ↑ "FAQs". Gorilla Glass. Corning. March 10, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Corning Announces Transfer of Corning® Gorilla® Glass Production". Corning. March 6, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
  6. 1 2 Pogue, David (December 9, 2010). "Gorilla Glass, the Smartphone's Unsung Hero". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Isaacson, Walter (2011). "36 – The iPhone: Three Revolutionary Products in One". Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster. pp. 471–72. ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9.
  8. ↑ "Glass Works: How Corning Created the Ultrathin, Ultrastrong Material of the Future". WIRED. 24 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Corning Extends Fusion Process to Tackle Touch-Screen Applications" (Press release). 8 February 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008.
  10. ↑ "Corning Unveils New Gorilla® Glass 2" (Press release). 9 January 2012.
  11. ↑ Dante D'Orazio (3 January 2013). "Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to be three times more scratch resistant than previous generation". The Verge.
  12. ↑ "Corning introduces Gorilla Glass SR+ for wearables". Android Authority. 31 August 2016.
  13. 1 2 "FAQs". Gorilla Glass. Corning. Retrieved 2001-10-08.
  14. ↑ Nusca, Andrew (December 22, 2009). "The science behind stronger display glass on your phone, computer". SmartPlanet. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  15. ↑ "Full Products List". Gorilla Glass. Corning. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  16. ↑ "Gorilla Glass" (PDF). Technical Materials. Corning. p. 2. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  17. ↑ Ulanoff, Lance (January 12, 2011). "Why Is Gorilla Glass So Strong?". PC Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  18. ↑ News release, Corning, Oct 24, 2012.
  19. 1 2 "Corning, After Thinning Out Gorilla Glass, Makes New Generation Tougher". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  20. ↑ "Gorilla Glass". Corning. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  21. ↑ Lidsky, David (2013-02-11). "Corning". Most innovative companies. Fast Company. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  22. ↑ Wray, Peter. "Gorilla Glass 3 explained (and it is a modeling first for Corning!)". Ceramic Tech Today. The American Ceramic Society.
  23. ↑ "Corning Unveils World’s First Antimicrobial Cover".
  24. ↑ Gorilla Glass 4 product information sheet
  25. ↑ "The Galaxy Note 7 is the first phone with Gorilla Glass 5". androidcentral.com. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  26. ↑ "Samsung Gear S3 watches get bigger screens and batteries". BBC. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  27. ↑ http://www.chron.com/business/article/Gorilla-Glass-used-for-cell-phones-is-coming-to-6700237.php
  28. 1 2 "How It's Made: Ion-exchange process". Gorilla Glass. Corning. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  29. ↑ "What Stresses Gorilla Glass Makes It Stronger". Inside Science, Sophie Bushwick, February 4, 2015.
  30. ↑ Walton, Donnell; Amin, Jaymin; Shashdhar, Naga (12 July 2010), Electronic Design - Specialty Glass: a new design element in consumer electronics (PDF), Corning.
  31. ↑ "Corning Unveils Corning Lotus Glass for High-Performance Displays – New composition enables OLED and next generation liquid crystal displays". Corning. Oct 25, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Corning Lotus Glass and Gorilla Glass 2". CA: Gizmo. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014.
  33. ↑ "Corning Lotus Glass to compliment Gorilla Glass". Smart keitai. October 26, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Corning and Samsung Mobile Display Form New OLED Glass Venture – New business expands Corning's long-standing collaboration with Samsung" (press release). Corning. 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  35. ↑ Corning: Corning Lotus XT Glass, May 2013
  36. ↑ McEntegart, Jane (4 June 2012). "Tom's Hardware, Gorilla Glass Maker Corning Debuts Flexible Willow Glass". Tom’s hardware. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  37. ↑ "Willow Glass (2014 fact sheet)" (fact sheet). Corning. 2014.
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