To open new applications or develop more efficient structural designs for glass, there is a need to identify new processes to strengthen glass. One such approach is the chemical strengthening of glass. This approach can lead to other important benefits, notably improvements in the resistance to stress corrosion and contact damage. Recently, it has been shown that engineering the shape of the surface profile produced by chemical strengthening can lead to other improvements. With these engineered stress profile (ESP) glasses, strengths can be increased while decreasing strength variability. In ESP glasses, surface cracks are arrested and this can lead to multiple cracking as a warning of failure. The phenomenon of multiple cracking implies that the surfaces of these glasses can be damaged without any loss of strength, and this has been confirmed experimentally.
