Chemical Strengthening of Glass

Dear Colleagues,

Ion exchange treatments have been used since the pioneering works by Kistler, Acloque, and Tochon in the early sixties on the reinforcement of silicate glasses.  The process, generally defined as chemical strengthening or tempering, is based on the substitution of small alkaline ions in a glass structure (Li and/or Na) with larger monovalent cations (typically K) from a molten salt in which the glass is immersed; the treatment carried out at temperatures below the strain point is responsible for the generation of compressive stresses in the surface layers associated with a kind of “stuffing” effect, whose intensity and extension depend fundamentally on glass composition, processing temperature, and time.  Over the years, chemical strengthening has been applied to many industrial glass components like cockpit windows for aircrafts, high speed train windshields, high-end ophthalmic glasses, glasses for copy machines, hard disks, and autoinjector cartridges; more recently, this process has become fundamental for most display windows in electronic devices like cellular phones or tablets.  Additional applications are now on the market such as architectural glazing, solar energy conversion collectors, pharmaceutical containers, and car windshields.

Despite these broad industrial applications, several scientific aspects are still not completely clear, such as the glass structure modification during the ion exchange process or the influence of glass and salt composition on the strengthening process.  In addition, new treatments that are alternatives to the traditional salt bath immersion need to be developed to reduce processing times and costs. Moreover, innovative techniques suitable for the rapid and easy-to-use characterization of the strengthening effect are often required to guarantee optimal and controlled mechanical performances of the produced glass components.

The Special Issue of the Applied Sciences journal titled “Chemical Strengthening of Glass” aims to collect recent advances in the understanding of the ion exchange process, in the developments of new processing techniques, in the innovative applications of chemical strengthening to glass components, and in the development on new characterization techniques.

Prof. Dr. Vincenzo M. Sglavo
Guest Editor

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• glass
• chemical strengthening
• chemical tempering
• ion exchange
• residual stress
• strength