EAGLE XG History | The Glass that Changed the World | Corning Display Legacy

Since its launch in 2006, Corning^® EAGLE XG^® Glass has helped make tablets, slim computers and televisions ubiquitous in our world today. It has also eliminated the equivalent of more than 6,000 truckloads of heavy metals from use in consumer electronics products.

The EAGLE XG glass story began in the mid-1990s, when Corning – amid growing environmental consciousness by customers and governments – took steps to reduce potentially objectionable materials in its LCD glass. The task was formidable.

Arsenic in small amounts was common in glassmaking as a “fining agent," meaning it helped remove small bubbles and blisters from the glass stream. To eliminate arsenic – and still produce defect-free glass – Corning had to completely reengineer the glass composition.

They succeeded, launching Code 1737G glass in 1996. It was well-suited to the notebook computers of the day. But consumers were already seeking electronics that were larger, lighter-weight, and with greater picture clarity.

To reduce weight, the new glass would have to be less dense. It also needed to be capable of scaling up into larger-sized substrates. And to enable better picture quality, the glass had to be flatter and more thermally stable than ever before, enabling greater precision in the circuitry that produced the images.

Corning met all those tough requirements with Corning^® EAGLE^2000TM Glass, launched in July of 2000. EAGLE²⁰⁰⁰ glass – which took its name from the less-catchy “Enhanced Attribute Glass for Large-Area Electronics” – eliminated some heavy metals like antimony and barium, but the glass did contain some arsenic.

EAGLE²⁰⁰⁰ glass substrates had such excellent performance attributes that it quickly became the standard in the LCD industry.

Corning could see the consumer desire looming for LCD televisions, but many at Corning and in the industry felt if the application were to take off, all heavy metals had to be eliminated completely. Some of the best glassmaking minds in the industry, working closely with customers, painstakingly developed a new glass formula at Corning’s research headquarters, Sullivan Park.

They produced a new glass that worked perfectly with Corning’s proprietary fusion process and replicated the attributes of EAGLE²⁰⁰⁰ glass. Best of all, it reduced potentially harmful environmental effects by eliminating all heavy metals.

EAGLE XG glass (for “extra green”), launched in 2006, represented one of the most significant advances in fundamental glass technology in a generation. Industry acceptance was enthusiastic and swift. In a little more than a year, all of Corning’s LCD customers had successfully transitioned to EAGLE XG glass. It was one of the fastest and largest product conversions in Corning’s history of display glass innovation.

Corning has continued to develop EAGLE XG glass, making it thinner and lighter and resulting in less required energy for shipping and handling. It can be made thinner than a business card, in sheets as big as two king-sized mattresses.

While EAGLE XG glass has been the production powerhouse for Corning’s growing LCD business, it has also helped unleash a wave of other glass innovations, all examples of Corning’s material science expertise and the fusion draw manufacturing process.

Because of its advancements in learning through EAGLE XG glass, the company was able to jump quickly on the opportunity to make Corning^® Gorilla^® Glass in the mid-2000s. A decade later, the cover glass was designed into billions of consumer electronics and became a transformative material for automotive interiors, architecture and more.

EAGLE XG glass, both directly and indirectly, has helped forge important collaborations and has brought amazing new innovations to everyday life–not just for TV viewing, but for lifelike experiences in communications, learning, telemedicine, and doing business. Without it, the display business might be drastically different today.

With sales volumes now exceeding 40 billion square feet, EAGLE XG glass is the standard for LCD manufacturers around the world. It has helped forever transform how we learn, how we do business, how we are entertained, and how we interact with one another.