AGC: first method to predict fractures in chemically strengthened glass

AGC Inc. (AGC), a world‐leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high‐tech materials, in partnership with the Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) have succeeded in simulating the fracture patterns of chemically strengthened glass—used for smartphone cover glass—in detail using a numerical analysis method, for the first time in the world.

By combining AGC’s fracture observation technology with JAMSTEC’s numerical analysis technology that has been applied to soil and ground fracture analyses, the novel theory and simulation method, which can consider the effect of the stress field on the crack propagation, were developed. This is the first time in the world that the process of crack propagation and the branching patterns in chemically strengthened glass have been accurately reproduced using numerical simulations.

These results will be published in Physical Review Letters and Physical Review E on August 4 (Japan Time).