Strength of thin chemtempered lenses: drop-ball testing

Failure heights were measured in drop-ball tests for both chemtempered and heat-tempered plano, white crown glass lenses from five different optical laboratories. It was found that (1) failure height was proportional to the square of the lens thickness, (2) chemtempered lenses substantially thinner than 2.0 mm are as resistant to breakage as 2.0-mm-thick heat-tempered lenses, and (3) a close correlation existed between results of single-drop and multiple-drop tests and between results of tests using rigid and compliant mounts.