Application of potassium nitrate in the glass industry

Chemically tempered glass is mainly used for smartphone or tablet PC screens with a thickness of 3mm or less. The glass is heated to about 420 degrees Celsius using a high-purity potassium nitrate solution and a matching catalyst mixture, and the potassium and sodium ions on the surface of the glass structure are exchanged ionically to form a reinforced layer. After a special surface treatment, the hardness of this glass can be increased substantially, which improves the scratch resistance and impact resistance of the glass without affecting the feel of the touch screen, thus increasing the service life of the smartphone or tablet screen. Potassium nitrate for chemically strengthened glass is an irreplaceable main raw material for improving the strength of various optical glasses such as touch screen panels, computer touch screen panels and touch screen operation panels. At present, domestic industrial potassium nitrate mainly uses sodium nitrate - potassium chloride conversion method, ammonium nitrate - potassium chloride complex decomposition method, ammonium nitrate - potassium chloride ion exchange method, due to its own technology, process complexity and other reasons, the majority of domestic potassium nitrate manufacturers can only produce general industrial potassium nitrate or agricultural grade products, chemical reinforced glass with potassium nitrate mainly depends on imports. In order to break the monopoly of foreign countries, domestic potassium nitrate manufacturers have developed a new process of potassium nitrate for chemically strengthened glass by conducting research and development on the technology of potassium nitrate for chemically strengthened glass.