SCHOTT Coatings Protect Smartphone Scratches and Glare

Expensive cover glass may have reached its peak in scratch resistance and anti-reflectivity. That’s why mobile device manufacturers are looking to new coating solutions for the answer.
 
SCHOTT’s new Hard & Clear coating solutions increase scratch resistance by more than 95% and reduce glare by 85%. Manufacturers can apply this new coating to any cover glass to give mobile devices a virtually scratch-free glass screen that users can see clearly even in direct sunlight.
 
“Smartphone owners know better than anyone that current cover glass is not getting the job done. Coatings, not cover glass, will set a new standard in mobile screen scratch resistance and anti-reflectivity. SCHOTT’s new Hard & Clear coatings keep cover glass virtually scratch- and glare-free,” said Lutz Gruebel, head of sales and marketing of SCHOTT’s cover glass business.
 
SCHOTT’s two breakthrough hard coating solutions include “ultra hard” and “durable anti-reflection” options. Type I, the ultra hard coating, reduces scratches by more than 95% over traditional alumino-silicate cover glass, achieving performance close to that of sapphire. This coating also cuts reflections by 75%.
 
Type II, the durable anti-reflection coating, reduces reflection by 85% and scratches by 90% over alumino-silicate cover glass.
 
First, the coatings underwent the standard industry steel wool abrasion test. A weight load of 1 kilogram was applied to a 10 millimeter by 10 millimeter piece of steel wool type #0000, rubbing the steel wool at a speed of 40 cycles per minute. The coating stayed intact for 10,000 abrasions cycles, three times more than the standard test requirement.
 
In addition, the coatings underwent a fierce new sandpaper test with very hard corundum sandpaper at a force of 2 kilograms and 50 oscillations. This is a trial specifically designed by SCHOTT to mimic the long and deep scratches that come from keys, coins and sand—the enemy of all mobile devices kept in handbags and pockets.
 
SCHOTT will offer this innovation for all glass substrates, whether alumino-silicate or soda lime glass, to all manufacturers. SCHOTT licenses its technology to coating specialists. The first licensing partner, the Chinese display coating specialist ZhengXing, is scheduled to begin mass production of Hard & Clear coated cover glass in July 2015.