Essilor: Shielding against scratches

According to Essilor, the company’s new Crizal Sapphire HR offered up to 70% more scratch resistance and up to 20% improvement in thermal resistance compared to previous generations of the anti-reflective coating.

Tim Precious, managing director at Essilor Ltd, said: ‘This is a considerable development for the coating industry and will provide a powerful armour for spectacle wearers to tackle concerns around annoying reflections, irreversible scratches and smudges that make the lenses hard to clean.’

Crizal Sapphire HR underwent Crizal Lifeproof tests and after 12 months of wear HR performed significantly better than the UV version in terms of scratch resistance.

Tests included gradually heating the lens, measurements of the lens’ reflection in different angles of light and sensory analysis to assess the perception of the lens transparency.