Key Features of Gorilla Glass include its high level of sharp impact damage when compared to

unhardened glass. It is usually not the drop that breaks the glass used in phone displays, but the stone
and uneven surfaces that crack into the glass upon impact. Gorilla glass also needs to achieve high
levels of hardness and be mass produced for consumer electronics at the same time. This requires
speeding up the chemical strengthening process, which Corning has done as well. Corning is able to
achieve its industry standard hardness through its annealing process and chemical treatment. It is an
aluminosilicate glass after combining sand and chemicals that is then melted and stripped of impurities.
The molten glass enters a mold that it slightly overfills and is drawn into very thin sheets. But most of its
strength comes from the finishing chemical treatment it undergoes next. Each piece of glass is dipped
into a molten salt bath where potassium ions begin to exchange with the surface of the glass and
surface sodium ions exit the glass and enter the solution. Because the K ions are larger than the Na ions
interstices that are filled have closer molecular fits that create compressive stresses in the glass and end
up improving its strength. This creates a thinner, stronger, harder, and comparatively more elastic glass
than traditional glass.