ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,559,418, issued on Feb. 24, was assigned to CORNING Inc. (Corning, N.Y.).
"Transparent Beta-spodumene glass-ceramics" was invented by George Halsey Beall (Big Flats, N.Y.), Qiang Fu (Painted Post, N.Y.), Charlene Marie Smith (Corning, N.Y.) and Alana Marie Whittier (Painted Post, N.Y.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A transparent Beta-spodumene glass-ceramic is provided. The glass-ceramic includes a primary crystal phase including a Beta-spodumene solid solution, a secondary crystal phase including tetragonal ZrO2, and an amorphous phase. The glass-ceramic may be ion exchanged utilizing molten alkali nitrate salt baths. Methods for produc...