Gorilla Glass on Gorilla® glass

When I started receiving mad requests for stock options this week I knew something was up. Yep, this week Corning went on a marketing blitz for their new trademarked Gorilla® glass. I also received some e-mails from concerned customers.

Am I upset? Well no…..I have known about this glass since they first announced it in 2006. Maybe a little jealous since my company will never match their nine billion dollar sales projection for next year and anticipating that I will soon be displaced in the search engines. But hell, I am in this for the lifestyle, not to become rich.

In fact Gorilla® glass from Corning is an amazing innovation in glass technology so I am curious to see all of its future applications. Glass in fiber optics revolutionized modern communications, ushering in the computer age and ultimately changing how we socialize and interact in high tech societies. The interface between technology, glass, and society is fascinating. Here is a run down of Gorilla® glass history and technical innovation, brought to you by the original Gorilla Glass Inc., manufacturer of glass piercing jewelry.

Basically, this is a soda lime sheet glass that has been chemically treated to create one of the most durable glasses ever. Indeed, now there is a soda lime glass more durable than borosilicate glass (aka Pyrex, another specialty glass invented by Corning). The current applications getting so much attention are the protective covers for digital devices including cell phones, lap tops, and touch screen devices. Gorilla® glass will also be used in a new generation of TVs; sheets of glass the thickness of a dime mounted on the wall for the most minimalist TV ever invented.

Originally developed in the 1960´s as part of a research project dubbed “Project Muscle”, the result was a glass named Chemcor. Chemcor had hopeful applications in windshields, but was displaced by a cheaper manufacturing process. Instead it found a use in the pharmaceutical industry until the nineties. In 2006 Corning realized the market potential for glass screens for mobile devices and selected and renamed Chemcor, Gorilla® glass. Two more innovative compositional developments happened before the new glass was ready for marketing to the heavyweight brands (LG, Samsung, Motion Computing, and Dell) in 2009. And now in 2010 the brand name hits the internet in a big way.

What makes Gorilla® glass so durable? A chemical strengthening process called ionic bombardment to a greater depth than previously achieved, and a production process that allow it to be drawn out into ultra thin sheets. Gorilla® glass resists scratching and dings and therefore suppresses damage zones that would lead to breakage and failure of other glass types.

So there it is. Maybe Corning will eventually be able to offer this specialty glass as rods instead of sheets and I will begin manufacturing piercing jewelry from it. Imagine Gorilla Glass made from Gorilla® glass, the most durable glass piercing jewelry on the planet!! That would be awesome.