Micro‐scale mechanical properties of surface layer in ion‐exchanged glass

Abstract

AbstractToday, ion‐exchanged or chemically strengthened glass is ubiquitously used all over the world, typically for scratch‐free display cover of personal mobile phones. It has been known that the strengthening is due to developments of high compressive stress in the surface layer by its internally constrained dilation . We investigated micro‐scale mechanical properties of the surface layer itself of a Na+‐to‐K+ ion‐exchanged soda lime silicate glass, revealing that the strength of the layer increased nearly 40% by the ion‐exchange with little compression effect from the interior. The fracture toughness, however, was comparable before and after the ion‐exchange, indicating that the ion‐exchange reduces the crack size of the fracture origin. Theoretical estimates of fracture surface energies verified the measured fracture toughness. It was presumed that the observed crack‐size reduction is due to crack healing effects enhanced by the ion‐exchange.