5 Things You Need To Know About Aluminosilicate Glass
Jul 29, 2016
5 Things You Need To Know About Aluminosilicate Glass
A few weeks ago, we published a blog post that talked about everything you need to know about glass. But we were wrong. There’s actually a bit more you need to know about glass, specifically aluminosilicate glass.
After being the first to bring tempered glass to the screen protection market several years ago with the BodyGuardz Pure, we are once again poised to revolutionize the market by bringing screen protectors made with aluminosilicate glass to our customers.
But what is aluminosilicate glass? Why should you care about it? How is it different from the soda-lime glass used in traditional tempered glass screen protectors?
1—Our new line of screen protectors will be made with Aluminosilicate glass.
Aluminosilicate glass, offers significantly more impact protection and scratch resistance than soda-lime. These are important safeguards that allow you to live your life without worrying about your screen.
2—Aluminosilicate glass is ”born” strong.
In addition to increased strength and resistance to scratches, Aluminosilicate glass is produced by a proprietary fusion process which creates glass at customized thicknesses. This glass is “born” strong. This is important because most soda-lime protectors are shaved down to achieve a particular thinness. The shaving process actually causes microfractures in the glass, increasing the likelihood of a screen protector cracking. With an aluminosilicate glass screen protector, you don’t have to worry about microfractures causing a crack or deep scratch.
3—Aluminosilicate glass is strengthened during a special ionization process.
Already produced as strong glass, the aluminosilicate glass used undergoes a special ionization process, making it even more resistant to scratches.
After going through the fusion process, the aluminosilicate glass is bathed in a molten salt solution at around 400°C. This process creates an exchange of smaller sodium ions for larger potassium ions. Once the glass is cooled, the large potassium ions squeeze together, creating a greater surface strength.
4—Aluminosilicate glass contains (you guessed It!) aluminum.
Aluminosilicate glass is composed of aluminum, oxygen, silicon, and several other positively charged ions. The aluminum and oxygen ions form aluminum oxide, and any given batch of aluminosilicate glass will contain at least 5% aluminum oxide.
Aluminosilcate glass also contains a healthy percentage of alkali content, which strengthens the surface of the glass and also gives it a high transformation temperature. These features provide several benefits, including:
• Hardness, which protects against impacts
• Scratch resistance
• Internal glass strength that helps prevent scratches from becoming breaks
5—Aluminosilicate is one of the most rare types of glass.
While there are a wide variety of families of glass, aluminosilicate glass is one of the most rare. Some types of aluminosilicate glass have been used in space shuttle windows, gauges, and thermometers.
Thanks to BodyGuardz, aluminosilicate glass will soon be available in screen protectors. Click here to learn more about the Pure² and sign up for availability updates!