OnScreen hybrid glass under extreme testing

We wanted to know for ourselves. What can our hybrid glass really withstand? Okay, we already knew that our flexible material is very pliable and therefore break-resistant. We had also determined the surface hardness to be 9H. Damn hard and resistant to scratches. But what about an extreme test? We had recently received a customer inquiry that seemed very extreme to us: Can our hybrid glass protect touch displays for controlling welding machines from sparks, fire, and dirt in a welding shop?

Cut-off grinder vs. hybrid glass

After rummaging through our workshop for an angle grinder, the test could almost begin. We first needed a massive piece of iron that we could work on with our angle grinder. After securing the iron block on stacked wooden pallets, we were ready to go. Using the angle grinder (actually a cut-off grinder!), we worked on the iron piece, creating a substantial spray of hot sparks, which we directed at the hybrid glass from a distance of about 60 cm. Speaking of hybrid glass: We produced the test object in a size of approx. 40 x 50 cm and applied it directly to a silver-gray printed Plexiglas plate without bubbles, so that you could actually see something. Otherwise, we would have seen sparks on transparent glass, or rather, not seen them because it's see-through!
Following this, we wanted to know how our hybrid glass material performed naturally and whether it was still stable enough to withstand mechanical stress. But how to stress it? Scratch tests are a dime a dozen. 9H surface hardness is super hard, we already knew that. Then we had a crazy idea: What happens if we hit the hybrid glass, already shot with sparks, with a hammer?

Hammer versus hybrid glass

So now we had the second test in mind: we wanted to hit the Hybdrid glass material hard with a hammer. We could not imagine that the special material would withstand a hammer blow, since glass typically breaks relatively easily, at least when hit hard with a hammer. The well-known bulletproof glass has already been tested and discussed in various videos and forums. We knew that bulletproof glass breaks. How will our hybrid glass behave? Unlike bulletproof glass, it is very flexible.

Everything documented on video

As a manufacturer, you could of course talk up such a test. But for sure we don't want to do that. For this reason, we recorded all tests on video, both the heat test with the sparks and the hammer test. The results completely surprised us. Despite massive bombardment with hot, still burning sparks, there is not a single hole in the screen protector material! Although there are some minor dim spots, the plexiglass panel underneath did not get any scratches. And, we certainly shot the hybrid glass for a total of 6-8 minutes. Of course, we shortened this to a few minutes in the video (otherwise it would have been quite boring). We didn't expect at all how the hybrid glass would perform in the subsequent hammer blow test - in the truest sense of the word. The heavy hammer blow destroys the plexiglass plate - but the hybrid glass remains tough. We would never have expected that. But check it out for yourself in the following video. If you don't believe it or us - test samples or material samples for your own tests can be provided with pleasure. You are welcome to contact us!