Living tissue on your hands already contains a plethora of germs and more pathogen organisms get picked up whenever you’re in contact with dirty surfaces, which is pretty much all the time. And when you pick up your iPhone and bring it to your ear, these germs get transferred to your face where they enter your immune system through the moist mucous membranes of your eyes, mouth and nose.
Specialty glass maker and primary iPhone cover glass supplier Corning thought of that, too, and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas announced an antimicrobial version of its Gorilla Glass which uses ionic silver to prevent growth of bacteria and other pathogen organisms…
The New York-based glass maker said in a press release that the world’s first antimicrobial cover glass has the same toughness and optical clarity of the existing Gorilla Glass, but is formulated with antimicrobial properties to protect touch surfaces.
Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass inhibits the growth of algae, mold, mildew, fungi, and bacteria because of its built-in antimicrobial property, which is intrinsic to the glass and effective for the lifetime of a device.
This innovation combines best-in-class antimicrobial function without compromising Gorilla Glass properties.
Check out the promo clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egU8GLD7MG8
Gorilla Glass provides “an excellent substrate” for engineering antimicrobial attributes.
They’ve already tested it with multiple manufacturers and are ready to mass-produce the antimicrobial glass. Corning isn’t just hoping mobile device makers will embrace the new product, they’re also targeting other industry verticals such as health care, hospitality and transportation industries.
Just two days ago, Corning said it was ready to commercialize 3D-shaped Gorilla Glass parts in 2014 as the focus shifts toward curved-screen devices and wearables. The company is also developing a flexible Willow Glass, but that innovations is still several years away from full-scale commercialization.
Corning last September signed a $2 billion ten-year supply contract with the Galaxy maker Samsung.
For more information, check out Corning’s official Antimicrobial Corning Glass website.