@FoxKat
I want to read your review of this article
Revisiting Old Solutions to Gorilla Glass 5's Current Problems
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OK, first I would like to say that article being as long as it is (very long), if I tried to review and answer with my desired level of clarity could possible cause an uproar with some who've criticized me in the past for being overly verbose.
There are so many points to take away from that article but I'll try to capitalize the most important ones IMHO.
"The recent rise of glass backed phones with curved glass fronts...comes with consequences...more glass, in places where there used to be metal or plastic [is] increasing the risks [when dropped] of it striking glass (and potentially shattering)."
This goes essentially without saying.
"Corning has risen to the occasion by improving their drop resistance for both Gorilla Glass 4 and Gorilla Glass 5, but it has definitely come at a cost in terms of scratch resistance...and from what we’ve seen so far, it’s only gotten worse with the Note 7."
The process of creating Gorilla Glass is one that takes normal glass, and through a process of ion transfer under controlled conditions removes some of the smaller glass ions that are spaced farther apart at the surface, and exchanges them for larger ions spaced closer together and of a different ion composition. This takes what looks like a rough surface on the glass when highly magnified (yet looks and feels perfectly smooth to the eye or finger), and makes it much smoother. Since most scratches start by a material rubbing against it and catching an edge of an imperfection in the surface of the glass, by having less surface imperfections you end up with less chance of scratching. Likewise, cracks or shattering start at high stress areas of the glass, such along the glass edge and at points of imperfections, so less stress areas means less shatters when it's impacted from drops.
Yes, this may be replacing higher Mohs material (5-6) with lower Mohs material (4-5) at the microscopic level but it also reduces its susceptibility to scratches from certain materials, specifically lower Mohs scale materials such as keys and key rings, wedding bands (without jewels), in the 3 to 5 Mohs area, though it may actually increase susceptibility to scratches from dirt and the airborne particles of dust that contain abrasives as described in the article.
The article goes deeply into the quandary that manufactures face when trying to walk a careful balance between shatter resistance and scratch resistance. Like it points out, harder materials scratch less but shatter easier, and vice versa. The entire idea behind Gorilla Glass was to make a hybrid, similar to metal alloys, by blending two or more dissimilar materials with complementary qualities into one conjoined material that takes some of the best features of each unique material and merges then into one with more advantages and less disadvantages. It's a great concept and it does work, however like metal alloys you may get greater benefits along one aspect and yet see lost benefits in another.
Similarly, when using concrete as a building material, it's hard and very strong when carrying vertical loads (compressive strength), but brittle and subject to cracking with bending pressure. Steel is also strong but bends and flexes so if used to support loads things move or bounce around like being mounted on a spring. In a building, concrete cracking could result in collapse and death, but steel means buildings "move", so they lace steel rebar into the concrete molds before they pour the concrete. Steel flexes long before it cracks and breaks so the flexibility added to the concrete means if the concrete cracks, it's still held together internally with the flexible steel bars and can continue to support the structure. It's not a perfect solution but it's better than either by itself.
I still don't believe that the 3 Mohs pic is truly capable of scratching Gorilla Glass 5 or earlier versions. I even have doubts of the 4 Mohs even though the video seems to prove it.
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