A shaped glass article is provided that is ultrathin, has two surfaces and one or more edges joining the two surfaces, and a thickness between the two surfaces. The shaped ultrathin glass article has at least one curved area with a non-vanishing surface curvature with a minimal curvature radius R if no external forces are applied. A method for producing a shaped glass article is also provided that includes providing an ultrathin glass with two surfaces and one or more edges joining the two surfaces, having a thickness between the two surfaces and shaping the ultrathin glass to a shaped ultrathin glass article by forming at least one curved area having a non-vanishing surface curvature with a minimal curvature radius R if no external forces are applied to the shaped ultrathin glass article.

A process for manufacturing a bent laminated glazing, includes manufacturing a first bent laminated glazing including at least two glass substrates locally comprising, in each of the at least two glass substrates and facing each other in all the at least two glass substrates, a zone including compressive stresses, and cutting the first bent laminated glazing through its entire thickness along a line included in the zone in order to form local cut edges and, after cutting, a second bent laminated glazing with the local cut edges having compressive edge stresses.

Automotive glass structures having curves and feature lines and methods for forming the same are provided. An example method includes applying localized heat (e.g., via a laser, heating element) to a location of a substantially planar glass structure and bending the glass structure at that location (e.g., along a line of the planar glass structure) to form a feature line in the glass structure. The bending can be formed to have a radius of curvature of between 2 mm and 5 cm. Additional layers of curved or joined glass layers may further be included to form a curved multi-layer glass structure for automotive use.

A method for forming a flat glass into a glass component, the glass component comprising a base surface and provided with a number of formations for forming surface structural elements that can be felt by a user, is intended to ensure a particularly high mechanical load-bearing capacity of the glass component or moulded part in a particularly simple and reliable manner, even in the case of comparatively complexly configured structural elements. For this purpose, according to the invention, the flat glass is placed in a forming tool on a number of forming plungers corresponding to the intended formations and then heated to soften the material, so that the glass material assumes the contour of the base of the forming tool between the forming plungers for forming the base area.

A tooling for forming a sheet of glass includes a forming die made of electrically conductive material and a heating unit, distant from the forming die. The forming die includes a molding surface, a support to hold a sheet of glass away from and opposite the molding surface, and an induction circuit having an inductor extending in a cavity in the forming die. The heating unit includes a surface configured to produce thermal radiation opposite the molding surface, and an induction circuit having an inductor extending in a cavity of the heating unit. A connector connects the induction circuits to a high-frequency current generator.

A device for picking up, shaping, and placing a thin glass pane, includes a frame with an upper side and a lower side, which is suitable to be directed at a glass pane with a thickness of less than 1 mm, and which is provided with a plurality of picking up pins that are arranged substantially parallel to one another and whose end directed at the glass pane is equipped with a suction cup, wherein the picking up pins are movable along their direction of extension independent of one another in order to adapt the arrangement of the suction cups to an intended shape of the glass pane.

Embodiments of an article comprising a cold-formed glass substrate in a curved shape, a plurality of separate mechanical retainers, and a frame are disclosed. The cold-formed glass substrate has a first major surface, and a second major surface opposing the first major surface. In one more embodiments, the plurality of separate mechanical retainers are attached to the second major surface of the cold-formed glass substrate. The mechanical retainers may be attached to the frame to define a position for each of the plurality of mechanical retainers, such that the mechanical retainers define the curved shape. Embodiments of processes to form such articles are also provided. Such processes can include attaching a plurality of separate mechanical retainers to a flexible glass substrate such that the glass substrate maintains its flexibility, and attaching the mechanical retainers to a frame, such that the mechanical retainers attached to the frame define a cold-formed curved shape for the flexible glass substrate.

A method for manufacturing a formed glass includes using a heating apparatus. The heating apparatus includes a heating element and a heat reservoir having a transmittance of 50% or more in a wavelength of 0.5 um to 2.5 um. The heat reservoir is arranged between the heating element and a glass substrate as an object to be heated. The glass substrate is heated with the heating element, and the glass substrate is formed into a desired shape.

Methods and apparatus provide for sourcing a glass web, the glass web having a length and a width transverse to the length; continuously moving the glass web from the source to a destination in a transport direction along the length of the glass web; and cutting the glass web at a cutting zone into at least first and second glass ribbons as the glass web is moved from the source to the destination, the first glass ribbon having a first width and the second glass ribbon having a second width, where the first and second widths are not equal.

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.