WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.860 Glass is useful for many things, like Windows, vision correction, and liquor bottles. 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 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:18.980 gadgets like phones, tablets, and smartwatches that need to be able to stand up to everyday 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:22.600 drops and scratches. You can check that video out up here. 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 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 00:00:33.720 --> 00:00:38.320 smartphone glass market, and we'd like to thank Dr. Jayman Amin, their technology lead 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 00:00:44.360 --> 00:00:50.400 bottles, it's still far from perfect, and a roaring trade exists in repairing cracked 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 00:00:57.160 --> 00:01:03.240 glass. One of the fundamental concepts used in strengthening glass is ion exchange. 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 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 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:23.400 in the glass. Because the potassium ions are larger, it causes compressive stress, which makes the 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:28.920 microscopic structure of the glass stronger and less vulnerable to scratching or breaking. 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:32.960 But despite this process having been around for some time, companies are still trying 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, 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, 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:52.240 scratch resistance of up to 7 to 10 newtons, and withstanding force of over 100 kilograms 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:56.280 in an area of less than 2 centimeters square before it'll break. 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 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:05.160 on it or give it the people's elbow. So how did they do it? 00:02:05.160 --> 00:02:11.080 Well, part of the process involves going deeper into the glass to increase compressive stress, 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:15.880 like by giving the glass a second ion bath, which allows for ion displacement further 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 00:02:23.160 --> 00:02:28.440 displacement even begins, although unfortunately many of the specifics as to exactly what 00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:32.400 chemicals and methods they're using are trade secrets they weren't exactly willing to share 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 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.880 glass, which Apple was once interested in any time soon. 00:02:42.880 --> 00:02:49.000 Unlike more conventional glasses, which are amorphous solids, sapphire glass is crystalline, 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.600 meaning that it has a regular structure at the molecular level. 00:02:52.600 --> 00:02:57.920 This makes sapphire glass very hard, but also quite brittle, which isn't exactly a quality 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:01.640 that you want on phone glass for obvious reasons. 00:03:01.640 --> 00:03:06.440 But then, if Victus glass isn't completely reinventing the wheel, does that mean we can 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 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, 00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:24.520 there is one piece of inside baseball that you should know that phone manufacturers sometimes 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:33.120 hide from the consumer. Toughened glasses are tested and rated at certain standard thicknesses, and sometimes 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.920 this is what phone manufacturers do in fact end up using. 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 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:48.320 be thinner, helping to meet consumer demand for light, thin devices, at the cost of taking 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 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:00.880 indicate that it might be fragile, that could be the culprit. 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:04.680 Or of course, people might just be treating their phones like they're kushballs. 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:09.280 Thanks for watching guys, like, dislike, check out our other videos, leave a comment 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 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 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 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:25.240 the existing paint. 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