Live From SPIE DSS 2012: SCHOTT Launches Rugged Cover Glass For Military Displays And Touch Screens

Karen Elder, marketing manager at SCHOTT North America, shows us the new Xensation Cover for touch technologies. This alumina silicate glass cover, with high compressive strength and scratch resistance, was created after representatives from the U.S. military suggested that military touch screen communications equipment mimic the design of technologies found in the consumer electronics market.

Video Transcript

Karen Elder: We are here at DSS in the SCHOTT booth. One thing that we are showcasing today is our newest product, called Xensation Cover. SCHOTT’s Xensation Cover is an aluminosilicate glass that we have strengthened so that it makes it extra tough. It also makes it very scratch-resistant.

This is about a 0.7-mm thick piece of glass. As you can see, you can really beat it around, even on the edges, and it is not going to break. That is due to its high compressive strength of around 900 MPa.

Another interesting feature especially for the defense space is its scratch-resistance. You can see that I have a regular key and I am putting it to the surface of the material. Typically, this would scratch a plastic, and also a regular type of glass would have some pretty bad scratches. You can see that there are no scratches left behind.

We are showcasing this product today to the defense market because we have received guidance from the military department that they’re asking that these young soldiers who are coming into the armed forces be able to communicate on the field in effective ways and easy ways.

They are finding that these young soldiers are already used to using capacitive touch technologies on their mobile devices, on their Tablets. This is a way that they can easily integrate into new tools.

Because of its unique compressive strength and anti-scratch, it can be put to the most extreme tests that you will find out on the field.