Gorilla Glass has indeed been a commercial 

success for Corning—recently, Gorilla Glass 4 was 

introduced to extend the product line. At the end 

of 2015, Corning’s Gorilla Glass had been used in 

over 4.5 billion devices, including smartphones, 

tablets, notebook computers, and smartwatches,4 

as well as extended applications such as interior 

architecture and design, markerboards, and 

automotive glass and touch panels. 

REVERSE ROADMAP

The materials innovation process employed to 

develop Gorilla Glass 3 is outlined in a “reverse 

roadmap,” which captures events that have 

already occurred, as compared with a traditional 

forward-looking roadmap. The reverse roadmap is 

presented on a time scale divided into four major 

categories: Design, Development, Manufacturing, 

and Deployment. The analytical framework in 

Figure 1 outlines the general structure of the 

reverse roadmap and can be applied to materials 

innovation processes across a broad range of 

materials, applications, and markets.5 

BACKGROUND

While it is now a household name, Corning’s 

Gorilla Glass has only been used in consumer 

applications for less than 10 years. In fact, the first 

generation of the glass—which resists breakage 

and scratching thanks to a chemical treatment 

applied by an ion exchange process1—was 

developed for Apple’s first iPhone, launched 

in 2007. When Gorilla Glass 2 was introduced 

in 2012, it achieved the market’s desire for a 

thinner product at a size 20% thinner than its 

predecessor.2

In its third iteration, Gorilla Glass 3 is even 

stronger, thinner, and more scratch resistant. In 

addition to the chemically strengthened surface, 

bulk composition tailoring has been employed to 

create Native Damage Resistance (NDR), which 

has resulted in a glass three times more damage 

resistant than Gorilla Glass 2.3 The glass is also 

provides the additional advantage of being more 

resistant to deep scratches that might otherwise 

initiate breakage.

SUMMARY

Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 is a notable materials innovation that occurred over a compressed, 22-month time 

period—an achievement facilitated by Corning’s depth of modeling capability, experience with prior Gorilla 

Glass products, and direct control over the major elements of the innovation process. The following case 

study explores the specific actions that led to this success through the development of a “reverse roadmap,” 

which captures and classifies the key activities that either accelerated or inhibited the innovation process.

1

Walton, D, Amin, J, and N. Shashidhar. 2010. “Specialty Glass: A New Design Element in Consumer Electronics.” 

2

Guglielmo, C. 2013. “Corning, After Thinning out Gorilla Glass, Makes New Generation Tougher.” Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/

connieguglielmo/2013/01/10/corning-after-thinning-out-gorilla-glass-makes-new-generation-tougher/#4938a9373d223a2bf3ea3d22. 3

Corning. http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/glass-types/gorilla-glass-3-with-ndr, accessed 01/20/16. 4

Corning. http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/products-with-gorilla, accessed 01/20/16. 5

“Quantitative Benchmark for Time to Market (QBTM) for New Materials Innovation”, Report by Nexight Group and Energetics, Inc., January 2016.

Materials Innovation Case Study: Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for Consumer Electronics 1

Materials Innovation Case Study: 

Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for 

Consumer Electronics 
Figure 1. Analytical Framework for Time to Market for Materials Innovation

INTENT TO SEEK A 

NEW MATERIAL FOR A 

GIVEN APPLICATION 

OR END USE IS 

ARTICULATED

MODELING AND 

EXPERIMENTATION AT

BENCH OR LAB SCALE 

CANDIDATE MATERIAL 

COMPOSITION(S) OR 

MICROSTRUCTURE(S) 

ARE IDENTIFIED

MANUFACTURING

TRIALS OF SELECTED 

MATERIALS 

COMPOSITION/ 

MICROSTRUCTURE 

AND SYNTHESIS AT

PRODUCTION SCALE 

FOR MANUFACTURING

PRODUCTION TRIALS, 

PRODUCT AND 

PROCESS EVALUATION 

AND MODIFICATION

A PRODUCTIONSCALE PROCESS AND 

RESULTING PRODUCT 

ARE FINALIZED 

AND STANDARDS/ 

SPECIFICATIONS 

ESTABLISHED

A COMMERCIAL 

MATERIAL PRODUCT IS 

AVAILABLE

APPLICATIONSPECIFIC TAILORING 

AND SUPPORTING 

TECHNOLOGY 

DEVELOPMENT. 

THE COMPLETE 

PRODUCT IS USED IN 

THE FIRST COMMERCIAL 

APPLICATION. 

SYNTHESIS OF LAB 

SCALE CANDIDATE 

MATERIAL 

COMPOSITION(S) OR 

MICROSTRUCTURE(S) 

FOR APPLICATION OR 

END-USE TESTING

SCALE-UP, INCLUDING 

LAB AND PILOT SCALE 

SYNTHESIS AND 

EVALUATION.

A MATERIALS 

COMPOSITION/ 

MICROSTRUCTURE AND 

SYNTHESIS APPROACH 

ARE IDENTIFIED 

FOR TRANSITION 

TO COMMERCIAL 

MANUFACTURING SCALE

START PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS END

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT

The reverse roadmap includes four primary 

elements:

1. Activities that occurred over time

2. Discrete events occurred at a specific point 

in time (e.g., milestone)

3. Factors that decreased the time needed 

to complete an activity (or, “accelerators”), 

which are shown to the right of an activity 

pointing backwards in time

4. Factors that increased the time needed to 

complete an activity (or, “inhibitors”), which 

are shown to the left of an activity pointing 

ahead in time. 

Materials Innovation Case Study: Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for Consumer Electronics 2

DISCUSSION

The value chain for this materials innovation was 

largely within Corning, which has the capability 

for the production or at least simulation of all 

of the necessary processes to move through all 

four stages outlined in Figure 2. External work by 

other companies that perform the ion exchange 

treatment to impart compressive surface stresses 

as well as end-use customers involved in evaluating 

material samples is important for commercial 

realization, but did not markedly influence the 

innovation process and timeline. Additional detail 

on the activities that occurred in each of the four 

stages is included in the text that follows.

4

3

2

1
Figure 2. Reverse Roadmap for Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 Materials Innovation

2011 2012 2013

J F MAM J J A S O N DJF MAM J J A S O N DJF MAM J J A S O N D

ACCELERATOR Discrete event

INHIBITOR Activity over time

LEGEND

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

Establishment of customer targets

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT

PRODUCTION-SCALE MELTING

IN SMALLER MELTERS (CF. TO FLOAT GLASS PRODUCTION)

Development of performance models based on topological constraint theory and existing databases

Establishment of customer targets

Coupling of models for performance and manufacturing

with cost modeling

AVAILABILITY OF MODELS 

AS A FUNCTION OF GLASS 

COMPOSITION

COMMITTED EFFORT IN FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH THAT PROVIDES HIGH QUALITY DATA AS WELL AS MODELS

ICME APPROACH UTILIZING

PHYSICS-BASED, “BEST AVAILABLE” MODELS

Model composition melted and manufactured in

production-scale tank at Harrodsburg, KY

Statistical “red flag” testing of product to determine product attributes

Sampling of product to customers for testing

Establishment of Ion Exchange (IOX) parameters at third party glass finishers 

EXPERIENCE WITH

PRIOR GORILLA GLASS 

COMPOSITIONS

EMPIRICAL MODELING

OF THE EFFECTS OF

COMPOSITION ON

FORMATION OF FUSION

LINE ZIRCONIA DEFECT

MANUFACTURING IN

PRODUCTION-SCALE

EQUIPMENT

AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCT MADE USING FULL-SCALE MANUFACTURING PROCESS

AVAILABLE MODELS 

FOR THE ION

EXCHANGE PROCESS

ABILITY TO DO THE TESTING

ON PRODUCTION-SCALE MATERIALS

Production of new composition in additional productionscale melting facilities in Corning network

Developed procedures for tank start-up and glass composition

transition to improve long term manufacturability

AVAILABILITY OF A LARGE FLEET OF

SMALLER MELTERS (CF. TO FLOAT GLASS 

PRODUCTION) IN CORNING SYSTEM

PRIOR WORK ON

PRODUCTION-SCALE MELTER FOR DEVELOPMENT PHASE

DISCOVERY OF GLASS TREATMENT PROCESS APPROACH PER PATENTS

Adjusting product to customer needs based on specific device design DEVICE-LEVEL

MODELING

NO REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFICATIONS

OR STANDARDS

MARKET

EXPERIENCE WITH

GG1 AND GG2

Materials Innovation Case Study: Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for Consumer Electronics 3
Materials Innovation Case Study: Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for Consumer Electronics 4

Design Stage

In the Design stage, a series of parallel activities 

occurred over a period of approximately four 

months. This stage was facilitated by the 

experience gained from the development of the 

previous two versions of Gorilla Glass. In addition, 

the breadth of data and models available to 

Corning as a result of the company’s strong and 

ongoing commitment to fundamental research 

served as an accelerator. For example, the 

availability of models—specifically, performance 

models based on topological constraint theory6—

enabled Corning to more quickly determine which 

materials compositions could best meet the 

specific customer requirements identified. 

Also critical to the efficiency of this stage was the 

use of an integrated computational materials 

engineering (ICME) approach that incorporated 

both materials design for performance and 

manufacturing-related models. This ICME 

approach used the best available models, which, 

despite varying degrees of precision and accuracy, 

were effective in identifying >50 candidate 

compositions. In the Design stage, the candidate 

compositions were produced in the form of 

crucible melts for screening. The output of the 

Design stage was a model composition that could 

then be moved to the Development stage. 

Development Stage

The Development stage involved a series of 

overlapping processes that were carried out in 

seven months at Corning’s manufacturing facility 

in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, using a productionscale melter. Significant accelerators at this stage 

included Corning’s experience in producing prior 

Gorilla Glass products as well as the availability 

of empirical modeling that informed the 

operating conditions, especially with regard to the 

suppression of fusion line zirconia defects in the 

fusion draw process used in glass manufacturing. 

Sample materials were tested both internally and 

by customers, with effective customer engagement 

enabled by the fact that the samples had been 

produced using commercial-scale equipment and 

processes. Also included in this stage was work on 

establishing the parameters for the ion exchange 

(IOX) process that is employed to impart the 

compressive surface stresses that contribute to the 

damage resistance of Gorilla Glass. This activity 

was accelerated by having models in place for the 

ion exchange process. 

Manufacturing Stage

The Manufacturing stage occurred over a short 

timeframe of approximately three months. It was 

greatly accelerated by the use of the productionscale melter during the Development process, and 

essentially involved implementation of the process 

developed in the prior stage at other production 

facilities with similar melting equipment. The 

procedure for tank start-up as well as transitions 

between glass composition were also developed 

in this stage, which helped facilitate the 

incorporation of Gorilla Glass 3 production into the 

production flow of different glass compositions 

within Corning. The invention of a process for 

minimizing the potential for fusion line zirconia 

formation7 also assisted in this smooth transition. 

Deployment Stage

Gorilla Glass 3 was announced at the Consumer 

Electronics Show in January 2013, which initiated 

the Deployment stage. The main activity during 

this stage was adjustment and adaptation to 

specific customer designs based on the particular 

device, which occurred over the ensuing seven 

months. Corning’s device level modeling capability 

accelerated this stage. 

The ability to rapidly deploy Gorilla Glass 3 

into the marketplace was aided by the lack 

of requirements for material certification and 

standards development that can be an important 

element of many structure-critical materials 

applications. Often the certification step can take 

a year or more to accomplish, and the fact that 

6

J. C. Mauro, et al., “Modeling of Chemically Strengthened Glass”, presented at MS&T15, October 2015.

7

A. J. Ellison et al., “Method for Reducing Zirconia Defects in Glass Sheets”, U.S. Patent 8,746,010 B2, June 10, 2014.
Materials Innovation Case Study: Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for Consumer Electronics 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The helpful inputs from Dr. John Mauro of Corning to develop the materials innovation timeline are 

greatly appreciated.

it was not necessary in this consumer products 

application eliminated this potential slow-down.

CONCLUSION

Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 was completed in a 

very short time period of approximately 22 

months, from the start of the Design stage 

to the completion of Deployment. Corning’s 

strong knowledge of prior products and 

fundamental research and its ability to conduct 

all primary activities in-house, as well as a lack 

of requirements for material certification and 

standards development, all contributed to the 

accelerated pace. This functional materials 

innovation is an excellent example of the 

application of modeling coupled with commercial 

experience to rapidly produce a material product 

with enhanced capabilities.