1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860
Glass is useful for many things, like Windows, vision correction, and liquor bottles.

2
00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:13,480
But it's not exactly known for its durability. So a while ago, we made a video explaining how manufacturers use toughened glass for

3
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:18,980
gadgets like phones, tablets, and smartwatches that need to be able to stand up to everyday

4
00:00:18,980 --> 00:00:22,600
drops and scratches. You can check that video out up here.

5
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,440
But for today's video, we're going to look at the improvements that have been made to

6
00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:33,720
this technology in 2020. To do so, we reached out to our friends at Corning, who control a huge amount of the

7
00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,320
smartphone glass market, and we'd like to thank Dr. Jayman Amin, their technology lead

8
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:44,360
for his time and insight. So obviously, although toughened glass is a lot stronger than what they use in soda

9
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:50,400
bottles, it's still far from perfect, and a roaring trade exists in repairing cracked

10
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:57,160
phone screens. So plenty of time and money are still being poured into developing ever tougher screen

11
00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:03,240
glass. One of the fundamental concepts used in strengthening glass is ion exchange.

12
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:09,320
Basically, what happens here is that the glass is dipped into a bath of potassium salts heated

13
00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:17,320
to around 400 degrees Celsius. This causes potassium ions to take the place of smaller sodium ions that were already present

14
00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:23,400
in the glass. Because the potassium ions are larger, it causes compressive stress, which makes the

15
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,920
microscopic structure of the glass stronger and less vulnerable to scratching or breaking.

16
00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,960
But despite this process having been around for some time, companies are still trying

17
00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:40,440
to find ways to improve it. Corning, for example, has recently announced a new gorilla glass product called Victus,

18
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,680
which is supposed to provide drop protection from up to 2 meters, or a little over 6 feet,

19
00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:52,240
scratch resistance of up to 7 to 10 newtons, and withstanding force of over 100 kilograms

20
00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,280
in an area of less than 2 centimeters square before it'll break.

21
00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:01,080
That is a lot more than you'll probably ever put on your phone, unless of course you step

22
00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,160
on it or give it the people's elbow. So how did they do it?

23
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:11,080
Well, part of the process involves going deeper into the glass to increase compressive stress,

24
00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:15,880
like by giving the glass a second ion bath, which allows for ion displacement further

25
00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:23,160
down into the glass than a single treatment. There's also starting the process with a stronger glass in the first place before ion

26
00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:28,440
displacement even begins, although unfortunately many of the specifics as to exactly what

27
00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,400
chemicals and methods they're using are trade secrets they weren't exactly willing to share

28
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:38,120
with us. What we can tell you though is that it looks like gorilla glass won't be using sapphire

29
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,880
glass, which Apple was once interested in any time soon.

30
00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:49,000
Unlike more conventional glasses, which are amorphous solids, sapphire glass is crystalline,

31
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,600
meaning that it has a regular structure at the molecular level.

32
00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,920
This makes sapphire glass very hard, but also quite brittle, which isn't exactly a quality

33
00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:01,640
that you want on phone glass for obvious reasons.

34
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:06,440
But then, if Victus glass isn't completely reinventing the wheel, does that mean we can

35
00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:13,800
expect it on our devices very soon? Well, Samsung has already introduced one phone with the new glass, so it shouldn't be long

36
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:19,880
before it becomes more widespread. But before you rush out and buy something new because you want a more durable phone,

37
00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,520
there is one piece of inside baseball that you should know that phone manufacturers sometimes

38
00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:33,120
hide from the consumer. Toughened glasses are tested and rated at certain standard thicknesses, and sometimes

39
00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,920
this is what phone manufacturers do in fact end up using.

40
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:42,560
But other times, they might order a new generation of glass, but ask to have it cut down to

41
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:48,320
be thinner, helping to meet consumer demand for light, thin devices, at the cost of taking

42
00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:56,240
away some of the glass's strength. So if you see a phone that uses a new generation of toughened glass, but lots of reviews that

43
00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,880
indicate that it might be fragile, that could be the culprit.

44
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,680
Or of course, people might just be treating their phones like they're kushballs.

45
00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:09,280
Thanks for watching guys, like, dislike, check out our other videos, leave a comment

46
00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,000
if you have a suggestion for a future fast as possible, and don't forget to subscribe

47
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,560
and follow, or I promise you, I absolutely promise you, that every time you use painter's

48
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,280
masking tape from now until forever, when you take it off, it's going to rip off all

49
00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:25,240
the existing paint. You're going to have to repuddy, you're going to have to repaint it, it's going to be a total mess.

50
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,800
If you don't subscribe to TechWiki, put that kind of whammy on you.