By designing the residual stress profile, the analog of a rising fracture resistance curve can be produced in brittle materials. This is particularly attractive for glasses, in which one cannot manipulate the micro-structure to obtain stabilisation of crack growth, as one can in ceramics. Using a double ion exchange process to tailor the stress profile, this process can increase strength and decrease its variability. In ESP glasses, cracks are arrested and this leads to a multiple cracking phenomenon that "warns" of failure. This phenomenon implies that ESP glass surfaces can be damaged without any loss of strength. The ESP process has been demonstrated using both aluminosilicate and soda lime silica glasses. The objective of this work was to determine the relationship between the processing conditions and the resulting residual stress profile.
