Communications of the ACM
Willow Glass: Ultra-Thin Glass Can 'wrap' Around Devices
Willow Glass is suitable for flexible and rigid displays.
Credit: Corning
Corning has developed Willow Glass, a flexible ultra-thin glass that can be wrapped around electronic devices.
"Displays become more pervasive each day and manufacturers strive to make both portable devices and larger displays thinner," says Willow Glass program director Dipak Chowdhury.
The material used to make Willow Glass is the result of a glass-making process known as Fusion. The technique involves melting the ingredients at 500 degrees Celsius, and then producing a continuous sheet that can be rolled out in a mechanism similar to a traditional printing press. Willow Glass says this method is much easier and quicker for mass production than the sheet-to-sheet technique. Prototypes of flexible touchscreens made out of graphene have already been developed.
Besides being ultra strong and flexible, future displays could give users "sensational" feedback, notes Cambridge University professor Andrea Ferrari.
In a separate project, researchers at Queen's University and Arizona State University developed a millimeters-thick prototype flexible smartphone made of electronic paper, using the same E-ink technology found in the Kindle e-book reader. The display was bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen, which interpreted text and drawings written on it.
From BBC News
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