Ray-Ban Diamond Hard Sunglasses

Vintage Ray-Ban Diamond Hard lenses and sunglasses were sold exclusively as part of the Ray-Ban Survivors Collection featuring a technological advance that makes them 10 times more scratch-resistant than conventional glass lenses with a surface that also sheds water making the lens easier to clean. The diamond surface is permanently bonded to the lens via an ion beam process originally developed by the NASA space program.. The Diamond Hard technology involves coating the lenses with a film of diamond-like carbon (DLC) that not only provides scratch protection but also reduces surface friction, so the lenses shed water more easily to reduce spotting.

 

The film coatings were supplied by Diamonex Optical Products Group, Allentown, PA, which used a modified version of a dual ion beam bonding process originally developed by NASA's Lewis Research Center. The hardest substance known, diamond offers a wide range of potential applications but the potential was slow to develop because of the high cost. Interested in the possibilities of synthetic diamond coatings for aerospace systems, Lewis Research Center sought to get the advantages of diamond without the cost penalty by depositing a thin film of DLC on an inexpensive substrate (supporting material). Lewis conducted extensive research on the properties of DLC and ways to deposit the film on different types of substrates. Among the coating methods developed was a technique known as direct ion deposition, in which an ion generator creates a stream of ions from a hydrocarbon gas source; the carbon ions impinge directly on the target substrate and "grow" into a thin DLC film. Lewis patented the technology and subsequently licensed it to Air Products and Chemicals of Allentown, PA which was exploring aerospace applications of diamond coatings. An Air Products spinoff company Diamonex used the NASA technology along with its own proprietary technology in developing both polycrystalline diamond and DLC coatings for commercial optical products, and this technology was licensed by Bausch & Lomb for use in rare Ray-Ban Diamond Hard sunglasses from the Survivors Collection.

 

Amazing Bausch & Lomb Diamond Hard lenses have never been equaled and are marked by both the Ray-Ban logo and a diamond trademark etched in the glass of the lens - see an original 1980s Bausch & Lomb Ray-Ban Diamond Hard Diamond Hard brochure here.

 

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