A forming method for curved glass has been provided. The method comprises: placing a flat glass plate in a pattern die, and placing the pattern die in a forming apparatus; and subjecting the pattern die successively to staged heating, staged forming and staged cooling, so as to obtain the curved glass, wherein the staged heating is performed over stages which are different from each other in temperature, the staged forming is performed over stages which are different from each other in temperature, and during at least one of the stages, a varying pressure which varies from low pressure to high pressure is applied to the pattern die, the staged cooling is performed by cooling the glass plate in the pattern die over stages which are different from each other in temperature. The glass product could be used as front and rear covers of electronic products including notebook computers, mobile phones, tablet computers and smart watches.

A manufacturing method for a laminated glass in which a plurality of glass plates are laminated, includes a first main forming step of heating a first glass plate to a first softening point or higher to perform a main forming; a second main forming step of heating a second glass plate to a second softening point or higher to perform the main forming; a first finish forming step of bending and forming the first glass plate into a desired shape; and a second finish forming step of bending and forming the second glass plate into a desired shape. The first and second main forming steps are performed by using a same forming die. A first condition for lowering a temperature of the first glass plate to below the first softening point and a second condition for the second glass plate are different from each other.

A glass bending device is presented. The glass bending device includes a bending chamber, a tool for holding at least one glass pane by means of a suction effect, including a downward-directed frame-like, convex contact surface and a cover with a peripheral air-guiding plate surrounding the contact surface at least in regions. The tool is suitable for sweeping the edge of the glass pane at least in sections with an air flow and thereby pressing the glass pane against the contact surface. The glass bending device further includes a fan, which is connected to the bending chamber via a feed line and a return line and is suitable for extracting air from the bending chamber via the tool and the feed line to produce the air flow and for returning air back into the bending chamber via the return line. The return line is connected to the bending chamber above the tool.

The method for manufacturing a plate glass is a method for manufacturing the plate glass having sides of at least 30 cm or more and a surface thereof on which a predetermined shape is formed. In the manufacturing method, the flat plate glass is heated to a temperature which is lower than a softening point and at which the heated flat plate glass is deformable by being pressed at a predetermined pressure or higher, the heated flat glass, which has been molded by pressing the flat plate glass with a die having a die structure for forming the predetermined shape, is cooled to the strain point while being held with the die. Further, in the manufacturing method, the pressing is performed with the die having a coefficient of thermal expansion whose difference from that of the plate glass is 2.0×10.sup.−6/K or less.

A method for fabricating three-dimensional microstructures is presented. The method includes: disposing a substantially planar reflow material between two molds; heating the reflow material while the reflow material is disposed between the two molds; and reflowing the reflow material towards the bottom surface of one of the molds by creating a pressure gradient across the reflow material. At least one of molds includes geometrics features that help to shape the reflow material and thereby form a complex three-dimensional microstructure.

Disclosed here are a glass forming apparatus and a method of forming a glass. A glass forming apparatus of the present invention includes a transfer unit which moves a material, a preheating unit which preheats the material supplied by the transfer unit, a curved surface forming unit which forms the material in a curved shape, and a cooling unit which cools the material in the curved shape transformed by the curved surface forming unit, wherein the curved surface forming unit includes a moving mold in which a plurality of curved surface-shaped cores configured to seat the preheated material are formed and the moving mold is provided to be movable, a first mold disposed to face the moving mold, a plurality of cavities formed between the moving mold and the first mold, and a pneumatic device which generates a vacuum pressure in the plurality of cavities to adhere the material to the curved surface-shaped cores.

A coated article is provided which may be heat treated (e.g., thermally tempered) and/or heat bent in certain example instances. In certain example embodiments, a zinc stannate based layer is provided between a tin oxide based layer and a silicon nitride based layer, and this has been found to significantly reduce undesirable mottling damage upon heat treatment/bending. This results in significantly improved bendability of the coated article in applications such as vehicle windshields and the like.

A tool for holding at least one glass pane by means of suction in a bending process, comprising a frame-like, convex contact surface and a cover having a peripheral air guide plate that surrounds the contact surface at least in regions is described. The tool is suitable for generating a first, reduced pressure in a first pressure region between the air guide plate and the contact surface; a second pressure in a second pressure region, which is arranged in a central region inside the contact surface, wherein the second pressure is greater than the first pressure.

A method and device for bending superposed sheets of glass. The sheets are picked up by a top form furnished with a suction creating an upward airflow blowing over the rim of the sheets, the suction being sufficient to lift and hold the superposed sheets against the top form, then the sheets are pressed between the top form and a full surface solid concave bottom form furnished with openings, the pressing beginning conducted while the suction is not yet finished or is finishing, then the superposed sheets are formed, by suction of the main face of the bottom sheet through the openings of the bottom concave mold, the forming by suction beginning while the pressing is not yet finished, and then the sheets are cooled. Windshields free of optical defects may thus be produced.

A battery cover and a method for manufacturing the battery cover are provided. The method includes: selecting a glass sheet; positioning the glass sheet at the first mold to define a sealing chamber with a wall of the groove; placing the second mold over and to cover the glass sheet, wherein the bump faces towards the groove, and the bump is in contact with the glass sheet; heating the first mold, the second mold, and the glass sheet; vacuumizing the sealing chamber to deform the glass sheet to a predetermined shape; deforming the glass sheet to a predetermined shape, wherein the deformed the glass sheet comprises a body and a flange connected to the body to define a battery chamber; cooling the first mold, the second mold, and the glass sheet; and processing the body to make a thickness of the body be less than a thickness of the flange.