There are 18 distinctive type of touch technologies in the smartphone market. But what makes the Gorilla Glass so special? Read the article below;
The first touchscreen phone was launched in 1992 by IBM Simon. The phone could be used for making calls, sending messages, e-mails and faxes. It was also equipped with applications like calendar, calculator, reminder, world clock and address book.
A simple touchscreen technology employes two screens, one plastic and one glass film. There are transparent conductors on both the films arranged at right angles to each other. When the screen is touched the processor calculates the position of touch and the amount of voltage developed as input.
Let’s come to the Gorilla glass. Almost all smartphone glasses are made up of Alumina Silicate formulation. It contains aluminium, silicon and oxygen. The glass also contains sodium ions spread throughout.
The glass is put in a bath of molten potassium at about 400 °C. The sodium ions are replaced by potassium ions in this process. It’s a diminishing process. Why sodium is changed to potassium? Sodium (Na) has an atomic number of 11, while potassium (K) has an atomic number of 19. Potassium atoms are comparatively larger than the sodium atoms. (The atomic radius of a neutral sodium atom measures out as 180 picometers and potassium at 220 picometers, so potassium measures approximately more than 20% larger.)
This makes it more difficult for a crack to start, and even if one does start, it is much less likely to grow through the glass.
The concept of strengthening glass through ion exchange is not new; it has been known since at least the 1960s. And other companies offer glass that has been strengthened by this type of process. Corning’s Gorilla brand of strengthened glass has gained considerable market share, however, and has a very giant presence in the marketplace. Retailers often use the term Gorilla glass to attract the customers.
Source : www.computerworld.com
