A cracked smartphone is perhaps one of the most common sources of stress and heartbreak today. But cell phone users everywhere can now heave a collective sigh of relief as Japanese researchers at the University of Tokyo and Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute developed a technology that can produce glass that is almost as strong as steel.
The current glass materials today, which are used in skyscrapers and smartphone displays, are infused with metal to make them strong. The new technology builds on this technique and uses alumina as the added material. This type of metal is an oxidized version of aluminum that contains some of the strongest chemical bonds in the world, according to Popular Science. Earlier attempts to infuse glass with alumina failed because the end products produced crystals that affected the glass transparency.
The new Japanese technology involved an innovative process called aerodynamic levitation wherein the glass and alumina are mixed high in the air by a laser that acts as a spatula. A machine blasts oxygen between the mixture and its container in order to avoid the murky crystals formed in previous experiments. Complete details of the process were published in a paper posted HERE.
The Japanese researchers, however, are still finding ways to convert their technique to a mass production process, according to Phys.org. This means that shatter-proof smartphones will not be available in the very near future.
