Glass articles and methods for producing glass articles for a portable electronic device are disclosed. Properties of the glass articles, such as cover members, are improved through chemical strengthening, thermoforming, or a combination thereof. The glass articles may include barrier layers to prevent diffusion of ions between glass layers of the glass article, internal compressive stress regions, or a combination thereof.

Asymmetrically strengthened glass articles, methods for producing the same, and use of the articles in portable electronic device is disclosed. The asymmetrically strengthened glass articles include glass articles having a deeper compressive stress layer in a thicker portion of the glass article. Using a budgeted amount of compressive stress and tensile stress, asymmetric chemical strengthening is optimized for the utility of a glass article. In some aspects, the strengthened glass article can be designed for reduced damage, or damage propagation, when dropped.

Provided in the present invention is a rare earth-doped reinforced glass-ceramic, and a preparation method and a use therefor. Raw materials rare earth-doped reinforced glass-ceramic comprise at least one of the following rare earth oxides: Ta.sub.2O.sub.5, La.sub.2O.sub.3, Y.sub.2O.sub.3, Tm.sub.2O.sub.3, or Nb.sub.2O.sub.5. In the present invention, a glass article doped with at least one rare earth oxide from among Ta.sub.2O.sub.5, La.sub.2O.sub.3, Y.sub.2O.sub.3, Tm.sub.2O.sub.3, or Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 is subjected to thermal treatment and ion exchange to produce the rare-earth doped reinforced glass-ceramic. In the rare earth-doped reinforced glass-ceramic, due to the high field strength and high accumulation effects of the rear earth element, the crystal size of the glass-ceramic is caused to low, and the crystal ratio thereof to be high, thus being able to effectively improve the mechanical performance and visible light transmittance of the glass-ceramic, and effectively controlling uniform devitrification of the glass. The invention is suitable for use in cover panels of electronic devices.

A method for producing a glass article is provided. The method for producing a glass article, the method including preparing a glass to be processed, the glass comprising a glass bulk and a low-refractive surface layer disposed on the glass bulk, and etching away the low-refractive surface layer to form an etched glass, wherein the etching away the low-refractive surface layer comprises: cleaning the low-refractive surface layer with an acid solution; and cleaning the low-refractive surface layer with a base solution after the cleaning it with the acid solution.

The present invention relates to a glass including, in terms of mole percentage based on oxides: SiO.sub.2 in an amount of 45% to 65%; Al.sub.2O.sub.3 in an amount of 18% to 30%; Li.sub.2O in an amount of 7% to 15%; one or more selected from Y.sub.2O.sub.3 and La.sub.2O.sub.3 in a total amount of 0% to 10%; P.sub.2O.sub.5 in an amount of 0% to 10%; B.sub.2O.sub.3 in an amount of 0% to 10%; and ZrO.sub.2 in an amount of 0% to 4%, and satisfying the following expression: [Al.sub.2O.sub.3]—[R.sub.2O]—[RO]—[P.sub.2O.sub.5]>0, provided that, in terms of mole percentage based on oxides, a content of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 is defined as [Al.sub.2O.sub.3], a content of P.sub.2O.sub.5 is defined as [P.sub.2O.sub.5], a total content of alkali metal oxides is defined as [R.sub.2O], and a total content of alkali earth metal oxides is defined as [RO].

A glass substrate with modified surface regions is disclosed. The glass substrate includes an alkali-containing bulk, a first alkali-depleted region, a second alkali-depleted region, and a first ion-exchanged region. The alkali-containing bulk has a first surface and a second surface with the first and second surfaces on opposite sides. The first alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface. The second alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the second surface. The first ion-exchanged region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface. The first alkali-depleted region, the second alkali-depleted region, and the first ion-exchanged region each have a substantially homogenous composition. A method of forming the glass substrate is disclosed. The method includes simultaneously forming the first alkali-depleted region and the first ion-exchanged region in the first surface. The method also includes near-simultaneously forming the second alkali-depleted region in the second surface.

A glass of the present invention includes as a glass composition, in terms of mass %, 50% to 75% of SiO.sub.2, 1% to 30% of Al.sub.2O.sub.3, 0% to 25% of B.sub.2O.sub.3, 0% to 10% of Li.sub.2O, 0.01% to 20% of Na.sub.2O, 0% to 10% of K.sub.2O, 0.0001% to 0.1% of Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, 0.00001% to 0.01% of Cr, 0.00001% to 0.01% of Ni, and 0.0001% to 0.5% of TiO.sub.2.

Methods of characterizing ion-exchanged chemically strengthened glass containing lithium are disclosed. The methods allow for performing quality control of the stress profile in chemically strengthened Li-containing glasses having a surface stress spike produced in a potassium-containing salt, especially in a salt having both potassium and sodium. The method allows the measurement of the surface compression and the depth of the spike, and its contribution to the center tension, as well as the compression at the bottom of the spike, and the total center tension and calculation of the stress at the knee where the spike and the deep region of the stress profile intersect. The measurements are for a commercially important profile that is near-parabolic in shape in most of the interior of the substrate apart from the spike.

Strengthened glass-based substrates having a first outer region compressive stress and a first side having first coating thereon are disclosed. The first coating comprising a material selected to have a first coating Young's modulus value, a first coating thickness, and a first coating stress that is either neutral or compressive, such that the absolute value of first outer region compressive stress is greater than the absolute value of the first coating stress. Methods of making glass-based articles are provided, and glass-based articles having coatings that provide different strength values and/or reliability on different sides of the glass-based articles are also disclosed.

A patterned article that includes: an alkali silicate glass substrate comprising a thickness and a primary surface, the substrate having a bulk composition; a patterned region defined by at least a portion of the primary surface; and a compressive stress region that extends from the at least a portion of the primary surface to a first depth within the substrate. The patterned region comprises a surface roughness (Ra) from about 1 nm to about 600 nm and at least one of a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of depressions. Further, each of the compressive stress region and the patterned region comprises a concentration of at least one alkali metal ion that is different than the concentration of the at least one alkali metal ion in the bulk composition.