Gorilla glass for Ford GT
Corning develops unique high-strength, low-weight windscreen for Ford supercarFord engineers had the answer in their hands the whole time. They were looking for every possible way to trim kilograms from the new GT supercar.
Corning’s answer was to use the same thin, durable and light 'Gorilla glass' developed for Apple iPhone in the GT’s front windscreen and glass engine cover.
Gorilla glass lightened the iPhone by several grams. It lightened the GT’s windscreen by several kilograms, to just 9kg.
“For the GT we created a hybrid two-layer laminate. The outer layer is 2.1mm, and we replaced the inner layer with 0.7mm thick Gorilla glass. By doing this we reduced the weight of the windscreen by more than 5kg,” said Yawei Sun, technology director at Corning’s Sullivan Park research centre in New York.
Figuring the mass was subtracted from above the supercar’s beltline, those five kilograms are super critical when Ford engineers are chasing world-best chassis dynamics and acceleration performance.
Engineers aren’t talking much yet but they will soon be touting an extremely light kerb mass to accompany the 450kW-plus output from the GT’s rear-mounted twin-turbocharged V6.
Sun mentions Gorilla’s lighter weight and higher strength are particularly valuable for use in electric vehicles, which is significant for an automotive industry that’s about to go on a strict diet.
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