Natural structure makes it easy, 'fragile' is the DNA of glass. It is almost impossible to change. But Corning, Inc. is not convinced, and is obsessed with changing the DNA of glass to create the gorilla glass we know. Gorilla The glass retains the hard wear and tear of the glass itself, and at the same time effectively enhances the toughness. It won the favor of Steve Jobs in the first time and became the only choice for the iPhone screen glass.
▲ Corning Silicon Valley R&D Center in Sunnyvale
Today, Gorilla Glass is no longer exclusive to the iPhone. It is used by more than 45 OEM brands and is used in more than 6 billion devices worldwide to ensure reliable quality. Obviously, this achievement is not a one-off, long-term technology accumulation. And timely product iteration is essential.
Since its inception in 2007, Gorilla Glass has undergone 5 iterations and has continued to break through in its resistance to fall. It has made Corning's most durable glass to date, the sixth generation of gorilla glass.
This is Corning’s most resistant glass to date.
According to the data given by Corning, people drop 7 times a year on average, and the average drop from a height of 1.6 meters or more, and most scenes fall from a height of 1 meter or less. Therefore, the sixth generation of gorilla glass is mainly focused. This has been improved to withstand 15 consecutive drops at a height of 1 meter, which is twice that of the fifth-generation gorilla glass, compared to the fourth-generation gorilla glass (80% of the drop of about 1 meter) Rate) has a qualitative leap.
In the communication with Corning, the author also learned that glass breaks tend to focus on two factors: pressure and crack, where the pressure is directly caused by the fall, but the crack is often present before the impact, such as extremely sharp Scratches (some even difficult to detect with the naked eye) will eventually lead to broken screens under tension and stress.
Based on this, the sixth generation of Gorilla Glass uses a new, chemically strengthened glass component that is deeper in the ion exchange process and has a higher surface lamination stress, thereby improving its resistance to damage, taking the lead. Avoid the formation of daily cracks, thereby improving their resistance to fall.
Experimental turn Panyu, six generations of glass perfect pass
In order to prove the anti-drop performance of the sixth generation gorilla glass, Corning officially led the media to the professional laboratory in Silicon Valley, and demonstrated the good characteristics of the sixth generation gorilla glass through several experiments. In simple pressing, bending test 3. The gorilla glass is perfectly cleared. The more interesting one is the steel ball bevel impact test.
▲From left to right, steel plate, ordinary tempered glass and sixth generation gorilla glass
In the test, a 128g steel ball was accelerated by a slope inclined by 30 degrees, and instantly hit the sixth generation gorilla glass at the bottom of the slope. As a result, the glass was unscathed. The steel plate and ordinary tempered glass with the same test conditions were already overwhelmed. The former is made up of a pit, and the latter is a dense radial crack.
▲ rolling test results, six generations of gorillas have the least scratches
In addition, Corning Labs also provided a roller tester to simulate the friction between our mobile phone screen and other debris in the trouser pocket, but this test is even more extreme. Corning has set up dozens of hairpins, screws, keys, etc. The debris rolled together and tested for 45 minutes. In contrast, the sixth generation gorilla had the least scratch on the glass surface.
Of course, these experimental results do not mean that the new mobile phone with Gorilla Glass really has the 'King Kong is not bad' in reality, Corning stressed that gorilla glass has excellent anti-drop characteristics, but on the other hand A reasonable structure of the mobile phone is required to give enough support to the gorilla glass. For example, this group of impact contrasts, the same as the sixth generation of gorilla glass, the left side of the model has no support due to the internal fuselage, and the right side of the model Still intact.
Deep customization to create a 'non-glass' texture
Nowadays, the comprehensive screen of smart phones is booming, the screen is getting bigger and bigger, and the feel and beauty are more important. 2.5D glass and 3D glass are widely used. The high-end models are often double-sided glass design, which makes Corning The future development of glass materials is more optimistic, and more crafts custom glass is introduced, which is deeply customized from the aspects of texture and color.
At the scene, Corning showed a lot of customized glass samples, including some of the popular gradient stained glass this year, but the real surprise is that Corning made the glass a 'non-glass' texture.
The glass in the picture is imitation wood texture, the surface of the glass is treated with a wood texture by a special process, and the texture printed on the bottom surface is used to create a wood-like texture. In addition, the snake skin pattern and the skin pattern are all copied. The sample, Corning can be said to play the glass out of flowers. This reminds me of the addition of this year's one plus six, which uses Corning's fifth-generation gorilla glass, the black color of the black color successfully created the metal texture of the glass, Corning apparently Give the glass more possibilities.
Excellent electromagnetic properties, glass is more promising
Compared with metal materials, glass is more promising as the material of the back case of mobile phones. In Corning's view, the shielding effect of metal on electromagnetic waves is a big injury. On the one hand, wireless charging is gradually promoted to the mainstream configuration, and metal materials will make wireless charging. On the other hand, in the face of the upcoming 5G network, the introduction of higher frequency bands and MIMO technology will require more antenna performance, which is difficult to guarantee under metal materials.
At the laboratory, Corning also showed the media the wireless charging function of the glass back-shell mobile phone, and gave some internal design cases of the mobile phone, pointing out the superiority of the RF design using the glass back shell.
There is no doubt that the sixth generation of Gorilla Glass is currently Corning's toughest cover glass, and it also inherits the excellent characteristics of glass. Corning revealed that several mobile phone manufacturers have evaluated the sixth generation of gorilla glass. The model of this product is expected to enter the market within the next few months, I guess it is likely to be the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9.