The Gorilla Glass Hype
Ever since Corning developed Gorilla Glass (and considering how the glass has taken the mobile phone industry by storm), the automotive industry has been abuzz about its possible large scale use.
To understand the future of this exciting product, we need to look at its background.
The history of Gorilla Glass
A chemically strengthened glass, Gorilla Glass is a seventh-generation thin, light and damage-resistant product from the Corning company. Its primary use is in mobiles, media players, laptops and TV screens.
In 1960, Corning experimented with chemically strengthened glass — the result was a ‘muscle glass’ called Chemcor. It was on the market till the early 90s and used in industrial applications (aviation, pharmaceutical and automotive).
The 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda racing cars used it due to its strength and light weight.
In 2005, development continued due to interest from the electronics market (Apple requested a thin, toughened glass for the new iPhone).
The success of this alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass proliferated.
By 2010, two hundred million global mobile phones used Gorilla Glass, by 2012 — one billion units, and by 2017 — five billion.
Corning manufactures the glass in Kentucky, Korea and Taiwan, andcurrently faces competition from Dragontrail, Schott AG, AGC Inc. and other synthetic sapphire alternatives.
Meanwhile, on the motor front, the Ford Motor Company started using Gorilla Glass in 2016 for the front and rear windshields on the Ford GT. That eventually led to Ford using it on the Ford F150 and the Jeep Wrangler.
How do they make gorilla glass?
By immersing the glass in a hot (400 °C) potassium-salt bath, an ion exchange occurs — the salt’s large potassium ions replace the small sodium ions in the glass.
The larger ions occupy more volume and leave the glass surface layer with high compressive stress — in simple English: strength and crack-resistance.
Continued process improvement (atomic-scale modelling) is clear with the latest versions featuring faster response time (screen touching), shape retention during high-temperature processing and combination usage with LCDs.
What are the benefits of gorilla glass?
Resilience
Gorilla Glass has a Vickers hardness test rating of 622 to 701 — meaning it’s highly scratch-resistant, allowing thin but not fragile glass.
It will resist deep scratches that typically weaken glass, and hailstone damage will be considerably less.
Safety
The glass is resilient but flexible, making it a very safe choice in the case of car accidents (it is laminated).
As early as 2014, Gorilla Glass became available with antimicrobial ionic silver. It is antibacterial, great news in 2021, and makes vehicle touch screens safer for all.
Visibility
With suggested three times better clarity than standard glass, Gorilla Glass’s application in the automotive industry looks bright.
This type of glass is less prone to smudging, and better vision equates to improved safety.
Efficiency
Due to Gorilla Glass’ light weight, fuel consumption is lower — and the Planet is healthier (this type of glass is also recyclable).
In summary
Suppose the mobile phone industry is any sign, then Gorilla Glass is here to stay.
Modern cars are increasingly chock and block full of touch screens using this glass anyway.
The economy of scale should mean more affordable Gorilla Glass and more vehicle owners opting for this type of glass for windscreens and side glass.
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