All You Need To Know About Gorilla Glass

You have probably heard about “gorilla glass” and some of you do have this type of glass integrated on your mobile phone, but have you ever wondered from what kind of material is this glass made and what is its purpose? If you have any doubts, we will provide you with answers. To put it simple, this is a special kind of glass which is designed to be very thin and light, and which will be resistant to any kind of damages. This technology is very commonly used in the world of electronics and it is used on portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, even on television screens. Who has invented Gorilla Glass? “Gorilla glass” is a brand of a famous American company-Corning. The story of this product started way back in 1960 when Corning’s specialists performed various chemical experiments in order to make a stronger glass and they finally succeeded by creating the “Chemcor”. This type of glass was used in car industry (especially when racing cars are concerned since it significantly reduced the weight of cars), airline and pharmacy industry. Corning gave another try in 2005 when it started the experiments on reducing the thickness of the glass, but at the same time making it even stronger and powerful. The experiments were prosperous so they were continuously carried out. The glass that is used today is already the fourth generation of glass. How is this glass made? This is not an easy question, but let us say that it includes a SPECIAL CHEMICAL MIXTURE, AN INCREDIBLY HIGH TEMPERATURE, ROBOTS AND A SPECIAL WARM AND SALTY BATH. To begin with, Corning took silicon dioxide (SiO2) and combined it with other chemicals which melted into a glass mass named aluminosilicate glass. The mass contains aluminium, silicon, oxygen and sodium, but this is just the beginning of the experiment. The next step is pouring the melted material into a special trough which has a shape of the letter “V”. The pouring stops when the glass mass starts to lick from its trough. The material which actually licked from the trough is the material that will be used. Automated robotic hands will pick these thin slices that measure hardly half a millimetre and carry them for further processing. We finally get to the end of the experiment, but this last step will make the “Gorilla” glass so special; a warm chemical bath in which an ion exchange will happen between sodium ions from the glass and potassium ions integrated in the salty bath. For this exchange to be possible the temperature of water needs to be over 400 degrees Celsius and the final result is a special glass that is much stronger and resistant, extremely thin and can be combined with touch sensors. Evolution Of Corning Gorilla Glass :- Corning experimented with chemically strengthened glass in 1960, as part of a 'Project Muscle' initiative. Marketed as Chemcor, the 'muscled glass' was used until the early 1990s in commercial and industrial applications, notably in 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda racing cars, where minimizing the vehicle's weight was essential. In 2005, investigating whether the type of tough glass could be made thin enough for use in consumer electronics, Corning used this glass technology to invent a brand new glass composition, Gorilla Glass. Corning Gorilla Glass was commercialized in 2007, and as I discovered myself in the lab tests, it outperforms plastic covers for scratch resistance as well as strengthened soda lime when damaged. It was followed by Gorilla Glass 2 in 2012 that offered increased damage resistance or thickness reduction. Compared to the original Gorilla Glass, Corning Gorilla Glass 2 provided over 25% increase in damage resistance. OEM customers could choose to use the improved performance in one of two ways - higher retained strength at same thickness or up to 20% reduced thickness with equivalent retained strength. In 2013, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with Native Damage Resistance arrived. Compared to Gorilla Glass 2, Gorilla Glass 3 with NDR offered improved scratch resistance, reduced scratch visibility, and improved retained strength after scratch. Advantages Of Gorilla Glass :- Of course, the primary advantage of Corning Gorilla Glass is damage resistance. Gorilla Glass is chemically strengthened through an ion-exchange process that creates a deep compression layer on the surface of the glass substrate. This layer acts as a sort of armor to reduce the introduction of flaws. Also, the process produces glass with exceptionally clean, smooth, flat surfaces and outstanding optical clarity making it a great cover sheet for touch screens. It's tough enough to handle the surface pressures intrinsic to these devices, and exceptionally thin to enable more sensitive and accurate responses. Gorilla Glass can be produced in thicknesses ranging from 0.4 mm to 2 mm, and even at 0.4 mm the company claims that the Gorilla Glass retains a performance advantage over many other cover materials. Final Question : Is the Gorilla Glass Breakable? The answer is: YES. Although it is resistant to scratches and minors injuries, this does not make it invincible. If you throw it from a big height the glass will break so we ask you not to do any experiments with these devices in order to test their resistance because it is not worth it.