Samsung’s Answer to Gorilla Glass Is 'Unbreakable’

[Guest]

Samsung's new fortified plastic window offers many of the same features as glass, from its weight to its transmissivity, with the bonus of being "unbreakable."

Samsung’s Answer to Gorilla Glass Is 'Unbreakable’ : Read more

 

[ingtar33]

the main reason why glass was used instead of plastic is because plastic breaks down from sunlight and high temps, causing it to turn milky and lose it's opaqueness (as well as losing integrity). If Samsung figured out how to stop that from happening and the quality of the screen display isn't strongly affected by scratches then this is indeed quite a breakthrough.

I'll maintain a healthy skepticism though.

 

[The Paladin]

After a drop test administered at 1.2 meters (nearly 4 feet) above the ground 26 times in succession and accompanying high (71 degrees) and low (-32 degrees) temperature tests, the Samsung unbreakable panel continued to function normally with no damage to its front, sides or edges."

I want to get one, stick It on the dash of my car, and leave it in my car while I work for a month, and see how it handles the car heat of Texas and if it has not changed colour, as you notice above, nothing mentioned about discoloration.

 

[AnimeMania]

This will be good for the no bezal on cell phones trend.

 

[Brian_R170]

I imagine unbreakable is kind of like foolproof

 

[stdragon]

Corning knows, (as well as other material scientists) that there's a trade-off between 'hardness' (Mohs' scale) and 'toughness'. So what is seems to me that Samsung has fantastic toughness, but could also scratch more easily.

Now, one might argue that having a combo of really tough screens combined with a disposable screen protector might be the best match. But again, short of lamination, you can't have both maximum hardness and toughness. The closest to that is Diamond; and I'm not sure we're going to see CVD (chemical vapor deposition) of synthetic diamond mass-produced anytime soon. If so, we'd already have Apple's sapphire glass they'd sunk so much money into already.

 

[derekullo]

But will it blend?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFP0IU4gpnmcLnVzDLUtfw

 

[stdragon]

But will it blend?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFP0IU4gpnmcLnVzDLUtfw

will is shred?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSHV3kxV5bc

 

[Lutfij]

This is all that came to mind after seeing this article:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=183057402563834&id=100025787251548

 

[Solandri]

But again, short of lamination, you can't have both maximum hardness and toughness. The closest to that is Diamond; and I'm not sure we're going to see CVD (chemical vapor deposition) of synthetic diamond mass-produced anytime soon.

Well if we're going to get that nitpicky, diamond is a crystalline structure, and vulnerable to fast fracture mechanics. A crack ends up concentrating stresses at the endpoint of the crack, causing the crack to to grow by "unzipping". That's why you can cut diamonds by hitting them with a chisel at certain angles.

Glass as we all know is also extremely vulnerable to fast fracture. Plastics are too (why it's easy to tear shrink wrap once you've cut a small notch in it), but less so than glass. Metals (whose grains slide, then interlock) tend to resist it well. As do fiber-reinforced composites like fiberglass and pykrete (combination of ice and sawdust). The substrate (resin or ice) experiences fast fracture, but the fracture eventually hits the reinforcing material (glass fibers or sawdust), which halts the "unzipping" process.

If so, we'd already have Apple's sapphire glass they'd sunk so much money into already.

It's not Apple's. It's corundum (aluminum oxide) crystals grown to sufficient size and thickness to be used as glass. Researchers figured out how to grow artificial corundum crystals (adding slight impurities turns them red or blue - which we call rubies and sapphires) back in the 1990s. The company making the corundum glass commercially had been producing them as bullet-resistant windshields for the U.S. military before Apple pulled their bait and switch on them. The technology existed and was developed long before Apple ever got involved. Heck, the aluminum foil in your kitchen drawer has a natural layer of corundum on it stopping it from oxidizing further.

 

[stdragon]

The company making the corundum glass commercially had been producing them as bullet-resistant windshields for the U.S. military before Apple pulled their bait and switch on them. The technology existed and was developed long before Apple ever got involved.

That I wasn't aware of. I thought Apple invested in the technology that could mass-produce corundum in sufficient quantities cost effectively. If I recall, it was originally intended to first be used for the Apple Watch, but it will shatter on impact (as indicated on corner impact tests). However, with a hardness of 9, it would withstand abrasions such as from sand and other debris. Apparently something happened (of which I know nothing about), but I do believe corundum production was limited to just the Apple iPhone camera lenses.

 

[deesider]

the main reason why glass was used instead of plastic is because plastic breaks down from sunlight and high temps, causing it to turn milky and lose it's opaqueness (as well as losing integrity). If Samsung figured out how to stop that from happening and the quality of the screen display isn't strongly affected by scratches then this is indeed quite a breakthrough.

I'll maintain a healthy skepticism though.

That isn't why glass is used. Plastic is used as the lenses in nearly all sunglasses and most eyeglasses, and as the display surface in nearly all PC monitors, and practically all non-touch laptop screens (not to mention most phone screen protectors).

- It is the resistance to scratching that shifted phone displays from plastic to glass. If Samsung has actually developed a transparent plastic as hard as gorilla glass, I'll be very amazed.

 

[kuhndj67]

Plastic scratches... plastic will always scratch. Also... plastic will lose it's hermiticity after some relatively short period of time and air kills OLED displays. If you think having to replace your phone cover glass once every couple years is annoying... a phone that's scratched to shit after 4 hours in your pocket is going to send you off the deep end.

 

[dark_lord69]

I'll stick with my Mi Mix 2. Brand new - $375 Google it if you're on the market for a phone. (It's imported though)

 

[gggplaya]

They shouldn't call it "unbreakable" because once someone does manage to break it, #notunbreakable will trend on twitter with pictures of broken phone screens. It'll be a PR nightmare for samsung.

 

[gggplaya]

Plastic scratches... plastic will always scratch. Also... plastic will lose it's hermiticity after some relatively short period of time and air kills OLED displays. If you think having to replace your phone cover glass once every couple years is annoying... a phone that's scratched to shit after 4 hours in your pocket is going to send you off the deep end.

Regardless of my phone, I use a tempered glass screen protector anyways so I'm not worried about scratches. I just don't want the screen to break if I drop the phone.

 

[newsonline.4000000]

Nothing new here . it is a choice ,

Gorilla Glass = Anti Scratch but can break

Hard Plastic = unbreakable but will scratch Easily.

Nothing new here Samsung , Move on

 

[RememberThe5th]

I've been using A5 2016 for over 2 years without issue and with modded rom, which makes phone get really hot (100*C+) and still no discoloration, unless i start to press like an idiot on it, few drops here and there, but still works fine.

 

[razor512]

They need to do some testing to see how scratch resistant it is, if it drops below a level 6 on the hardness scale, then it is a useless product from a practical sense.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Well I have one scratch from unknown thing. Its not that "Scratch" proof or in short Fool proof. But Its durable.

 

[shpankey]

just add a glass protector on it. best of both worlds and problem solved

 

[velocityg4]

They need to do some testing to see how scratch resistant it is, if it drops below a level 6 on the hardness scale, then it is a useless product from a practical sense.

Given how expensive some phones are. I could never imagine using anything other than an IP68 bumper case with a phone. How scratch-able a screen is becomes a moot point.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Oh and about that, i just broke my first layer of screen by 10cm drop... And glass is shredding my fingers, nice move samsung, atleast could they mix it woth plastic?

 

[Giroro]

I'm sure Samsung will slightly curve the screen again, which will make glass screen protectors basically unusable.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Hahaha, mold th curved screen with superglue.
Ive tried to cover my crack with superglue, and its very effective, almost invisible when screen is on.