Too bad all windows were not made of Gorilla Glass

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I was just looking into the type of glass found on the iPhone 4 and it appears to be called Gorilla Glass and made by Corning. It is extremely durable/scratch resistant and I was curious how they made it.

Clearly, glass manufactures know how to make high quality glass, too bad they don’t make it for windows or prescription glasses.

The following are some excerpts from Corning on Gorilla Glass.

[B]WHAT MAKES GORILLA GLASS SO DAMAGE RESISTANT?
The unique composition of Gorilla Glass allows for a deep layer of high compressive stress (created through an ion-exchange process). This compression acts as a sort of “armor,” making the glass exceptionally tough and damage resistant.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE ION-EXCHANGE PROCESS?
Ion exchange is a chemical strengthening process where large ions are “stuffed” into the glass surface, creating a state of compression. Gorilla Glass is specially designed to maximize this behavior.

The glass is placed in a hot bath of molten salt at a temperature of approximately 400°C. Smaller sodium ions leave the glass, and larger potassium ions from the salt bath replace them. These larger ions take up more room and are pressed together when the glass cools, producing a layerof compressive stress on the surface of the glass. Gorilla Glass’s special composition enables the potassium ions to diffuse far into the surface, creating high compressive stress deep into the glass. This layer of compression creates a surface that is more resistant to damage from everyday use.

CAN I BREAK GORILLA GLASS?
If subjected to enough abuse, Gorilla Glass can break. However, Gorilla Glass is better able to survive the real-world events that most commonly cause glass to scratch, chip, or break.*

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF CORNING’S FUSION DRAW PROCESS?
Corning’s proprietary fusion process creates an unparalleled surface quality. This extraordinarily precise, highly automated process produces glass with exceptionally clean, smooth, flat surfaces; outstanding optical clarity;*and inherent dimensional stability. With the right process design, the glass can be used “as drawn,” eliminating grinding and polishing processes that add cost and may introduce surface flaws. This same fusion draw process is at the heart of Corning’s industry-leading LCD glass.[/B]

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that’s funny I keep hearing people say the Iphone4 is notorious for cracking easily. lol

Iphone 4 screen cracking - Google Search

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Woody, is that Corning Glass in NY you are referring to? I’ve been there a number of times. It’s a pretty cool museum.

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Not in my experience. My wife and I both have them and my parents do as well-- we have no scratches or cracks at all. I might add also that I have three small children who like to grab our phones and drop them. They still look brand new.

I recently switched cases and had planned on putting a new screen protector on, however I realized after I had taken the old one off, that I did not have a new one for it. So the phone rode around with me for a few days before I got around to putting a new one on and I thought for sure that my phone would show some tiny scratches from coins and keys in my pockets. The protective film allways shows these little things-- but I was a bit surprised when I went to put the screen protector on and I saw that there was no damage at all. The glass is tough.

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It might be the same one, I’m not sure. I think they manufacture the Gorilla Glass itself in Kentucky.

Edit- I just looked, they are based out of NY and they manufacture the Gorilla Glass in Kentucky and Japan.

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I dropped mine like 20 times and it was fine, then recently I dropped it on concrete… Boom. lots of little pieces :frowning:

found a replacement cover for 11 bucks… I know off topic…

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I read an article about the Gorilla Glass a few months ago, said they actually invented it 30 or 40 years ago, and have had the patents on it but didn’t really have a use for it until the smartphone and flat tv era. One of those ahead of their time things, that finally paid off.

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I read about that. This is what Corning has to say about it.

IS IT TRUE THAT CORNING GORILLA GLASS WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED IN THE 1960S?
No. That has been a popular myth, which apparently resulted from a misunderstanding of the facts. It’s true that Corning experimented with chemically strengthened glass in 1960, as part of an initiative called “Project Muscle.” In 1961, Corning developed a glass composition it promoted under the Chemcor® brand, which featured state-of-the-art strength and durability. Chemcor glass was incorporated into tableware, ophthalmic products, and applications for the automotive, aviation, and pharmaceutical industries. When Corning began developing a tough new cover glass for electronic devices in 2006, Corning scientists, of course, drew upon the company’s prior expertise with strengthened glass. However, Corning Gorilla Glass is a different product and glass composition than Chemcor. We implemented significant compositional as well as other changes to achieve superior product characteristics including outstanding damage resistance, while making the glass compatible with Corning’s proprietary fusion-draw manufacturing process. Corning’s fusion-draw process produces exceptionally thin glass with unparalleled surface quality. The result is a tough and damage-resistant glass that is ideal for today’s sleekest electronic devices and most sophisticated touch technology.

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I bought my kids iBands for their iPhone 3G phones a while back.

Nice demo starting at ~ the 4:25 mark.