Gorilla Glass, protecting our favourite gadgets this Superman tough glass is the unsung hero of the gadget world and is about to receive an upgrade. Producing by Corning the new generation of Gorilla Glass will be demonstrated at the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas next week. With hammers at the ready Corning will be demonstrating the almost indestructible nature of the Gorilla. Corning takes great pride in destroying its Gorilla Glass and posting the videos, not an easy task if the demonstrations is anything to go by. The testing that Corning puts Gorilla Glass through confirms the glass is tough, flexible and scratch resistant, with some saying it’s as tough as steel while still being crystal clear.

Corning Gorilla Glass has been a tremendous success for Corning, enjoying excellent market acceptance across mobile device industries. Handset and tablet device manufacturers are clearly driving toward higher functionality from thinner designs. Corning’s latest innovation in Gorilla Glass technology is very well positioned to meet these challenges and enable broader touch technology penetration,” said James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Specialty Materials. Product details will be included in an announcement planned for Monday, January 9, 2012.

The manufacturing technology for Gorilla Glass was first developed in 1960 when Corning started experimenting with chemical hardening of glass. Project Muscle – LOL – was Corning’s first attempt at the Gorilla but it wasn’t until the world fell in love with touch screen devices that a substantial market for this tough glass was created.

Gorilla Glass starts life as a alkali-aluminosilicate – composed of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen – sheet glass with special attention paid to removing any impurities during the early stages of production. Once the sheets are formed – using liquid mercury – and cooled the final hardening process is applied. Placed in a hot bath of molten potassium salt at a temperature of approximately 400 °C (~750 °F) the sheets go through an Ion – an atom with an Electron / Proton imbalance – transfer process. This process exchanges the smaller sodium ions for the much larger potassium ions. With the potassium ions being much larger than sodium the glass is forced to squeeze them in which puts stress on the atomic lattice, making it much stronger, like the difference between standing on an empty box or full box. The deeper this process can occur the tougher the glass, Corning won’t reveal how the get the process to occur so deeply into the sheets.

Corning are set to reveal some new and novel uses for it’s Gorilla Glass 2, with 84″ touch screen TV’s and glass panel speakers on display. Extremely large touch screen TV’s have always been difficult with normal glass, the pressure exerted by the touching bends the glass and when the sheet is 6 feet wide the bend can fracture the glass. Glass speakers have been often been touted as the pinnacle of clarity but the brittleness of glass couldn’t handle certain types of music and high volumes. Which is where Gorilla Glass comes in for both novel uses, it is tough enough.

Over 500 million devices have been sold worldwide that use the Gorilla for protection, although Corning doesn’t have the market to itself. Asahi Glass of Japan have a new equivalent product called Dragontrail. Similar in nature to Gorilla Glass this is a tough and flexible glass aimed at touch screen devices. Since it’s initial demonstration in early 2011 very little news has appeared relating Dragontrail, iSupply has been reporting that during a tear down of the iPad 2 – deconstruction – the toughened glass appears to be Dragontrail glass. Apple refuses to comment so this will remain a mystery. Does Dragontrail have only one customer, one very large customer.

All roads lead to CES at the moment, Corning have made the journey and will have some very impressive technologies on show. Gorilla Glass – and Dragontrail – are the unsung hero’s that have helped establish the touch screen revolution. Imagine if every swipe or accident led to a cracked screen – and bleeding fingers -, this touch revolution would never have happened. Could there be any greater or more dignified purpose than protecting all of the gadgets that we love, the gadgets that connect this wired world of ours.

From Corning

Corning® Gorilla® Glass is used by more than 30 major brands, has been designed into more than 575 product models, and is featured on more than 500 million devices worldwide. Due to customer agreements, we cannot identify all devices that feature Gorilla Glass. Your favorite device may include Gorilla Glass, even if you don’t see it listed. Ask your manufacturer or retailer to learn more.

• Acer: Aspire Ethos 8951G, Aspire Ethos 5951G, ICONIA TAB A100, ICONIA TAB A500, ICONIA TAB W500, ICONIA SMART, ICONIA Touchbook

• Asus: Eee Pad Slider, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Slate EP121

• Dell: Streak 5, Streak 7 Tablet, Venue, Venue Pro

• HTC: 7 Mozart, 7 Surround T8788, Aria, ChaCha, Desire, Desire HD, Desire S, Desire Z, Dopod A6388, Dopod T8388, Dragon, Droid ERIS, Droid Incredible, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, EVO Shift 4G, G1, G2, HD2, HD7, HD mini, Hero, Incredible S, Inspire 4G, Legend, myTouch 3G, myTouch 3G Slide, myTouch 4G, Salsa, Sensation, T9199, Thunder Bolt, Tianxi T9188, Trophy, Wildfire

• Kyocera: Echo

• Lenovo: ThinkPad Tablet, ThinkPad X1 Laptop, ThinkPad X220 Tablet (available as an option)

• LG: Ally, Arena, Arena TV, Crystal, LG Mini, Maxx, New Chocolate, Optimus 2X (T-Mobile® G2x™ with Google™), Optimus 3D (Thrill™ 4G), Optimus 7, Optimus Black (LG Marquee™), Optimus Mach, Optimus Q, Optimus Z, Viewty Smart, X300

• Motorola: ADMIRAL, ATRIX 2, ATRIX 4G, BACKFLIP, BRAVO, CHARM, CLIQ, CLIQ 2, CLIQ XT, DEFY, DEFY+, DEVOUR, DEXT, DROID, DROID 2, DROID 2 GLOBAL, DROID 3, DROID BIONIC, DROID PRO, DROID RAZR, DROID RAZR in WHITE, DROID X, DROID X2, FLIPOUT, MOTOROLA i1, MOTOROLA MILESTONE, PHOTON 4G, PRO+, RAZR by Motorola, TITANIUM, TRIUMPH, XOOM, XOOM 2, XOOM 2 Media Edition, XPRT, XYBOARD 8.2, XYBOARD 10.1

• Motion Computing: F5v, C5v, J3500, CL900

• NEC: docomo PRIME series N-02B, MEDIAS N-04C

• Nokia: 702T, Astound (T-Mobile US), C6, C7, E6, E7, Lumia 710, Lumia 800, N8, N9, Oro, T7-00, X6, X7

• Samsung: Behold II, Captivate, Continuum, Corby S3650, Corby W900, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Flight II, Focus, Focus™ Flash (US AT&T), Galaxy A, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy S, GALAXY S II, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Lindy, Mesmerize, Monte, Monte Preston, Omnia HD, Omnia W, S8500 WAVE, Showcase, Trance, Transform, Ultra TOUCH S8300, Vibrant, Wave II

• SK Telesys: Rain Phone (SK-800), Reaction Phone (SK-S100), W Phone (SK-700)

• Sonim: Sonim XP2.10 SPIRIT, Sonim XP3.20 Quest, Sonim XP3 SENTINEL, Sonim XP1300 CORE, Sonim XP1301 CORE NFC, Sonim XP1330 CORE PTT, Sonim XP3300 FORCE, Sonim XP3300 FORCE Z1, Sonim XP3340 SENTINEL

• Sony: BRAVIA models KDL – HX820, KDL – NX720, XBR – HX929