The type of glass Corning creates for its Gorilla Glass is an aluminosilicate. This sort of glass is sand-based and is made up of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen.
After the first glass is created, the product is placed in a molten salt bath that’s over 400 degrees Celsius. This heat triggers an ion-exchange process that forces the smaller sodium ions out of the glass and replaces them with larger potassium ions drawn in from the salt. This process of packing larger ions into the same sized space makes the glass significantly denser than it was originally.
This is what gives Gorilla Glass its strength and flexibility.
The first generation of Gorilla Glass was created in 2008 with additional iterations produced in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The fifth generation of Gorilla Glass was released in July 2016 for general use in electronics while a new type of glass designed for smartwatches, Gorilla Glass SR+, debuted one month later.
