The hottest sapphire glass panel has a chance to b

Sapphire glass panel has the opportunity to become a future screen star

after Apple announced in November 2013 that it had signed a multi-year sapphire material supply contract with sapphire glass manufacturer gtat (gtadvancedtechnology) with high measurement accuracy, rumors about Apple's next-generation iPhone using sapphire glass panel became even more rampant in the market

at present, gorillaglass of Corning is widely used as the screen material of smart type, including flagship models of various companies, such as one of HTC, galaxys4 of Samsung Electronics, or lumia1520 of Nokia, all of which choose this as the protective glass of the screen. According to the Corning draft, Corning gorillaglass has been used in 1.5 billion devices, and the number continues to grow

sapphire, the screen material favored by apple, is composed of alumina (Al2O3), which has the characteristics of corrosion resistance, high hardness and excellent scratch resistance. Its Mohs hardness is the Ninth level, second only to diamond, which is more scratch resistant and not easy to crack than general strengthened glass

according to matthewhall, Dean of Alfred University, the fracturetoughness of sapphire glass is about 4 times that of Corning gorillaglass, which can reduce the probability of damage caused by falling

therefore, if sapphire glass is used on the screen, it must pass the verification panel of the legal metrological verification department. When it is dropped or placed in the bag with sharp objects such as keys, there is less need to worry about the cracking or scratching of the screen. Therefore, Apple has begun to use sapphire glass to cover the rear lens of iphone5 and 5S and the fingerprint identification key of 5S to achieve the effect of protection

but sapphire glass also has a density of 3. 98g/cm3, greater than 2 of gorillaglass. Sometimes the frequency band of the amplifier reaches the range of 54g/cm3, so the weight of sapphire glass will be heavier under the same size. Placement of the experimental machine: the main body of the hydraulic universal experimental machine and the dynamometer device do not need special foundation. In addition, the light refractive index of sapphire glass is high, so the screen brightness will be slightly darker than gorillaglass

in addition to the low cost of raw materials, Corning gorillaglass is also a product with quite mature production technology, so analysts estimate that the price of sapphire glass may be about 10 times that of Corning gorillaglass. These are the factors that have to be considered when planning to use sapphire glass as the screen

therefore, techradar station speculates that apple and gtat cooperate mainly to reduce material costs. The two have jointly developed sapphire laminates. With the thin sapphire panel bonded to gtat and the sapphire on glass substrate, in addition to making the screen thickness less than 1mm, and most importantly, it can significantly reduce the material cost of sapphire glass panels

in addition, Apple also prepaid gtat about 5. US $7.8 billion, allowing it to purchase nearly 1000 sapphirecrystalfurnaces to expand production capacity to achieve the goal of economies of scale

the excellent scratch resistance of sapphire can bring more protection to users' mobile devices, but some problems still need to be solved when using sapphire glass as screen material. Including the phenomenon of purple halo when taking photos with sapphire glass covered protective lens in the face of strong light; And the problem of low brightness when used outdoors

techradar station said that maybe the problem of dark brightness can be improved by adopting thinner sapphire laminate technology in the future, but if sapphire glass can be used with brightly colored or even overfilled active organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED), it may be a great combination

China glass () Department