METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A COATED CHEMICALLY STRENGTHENED GLASS ARTICLE

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a coated glass article that includes (i) preparing a glass substrate having a first and second opposed main surfaces, (ii) irradiating at least the first main surface of the glass substrate with a laser to form at least one separating line defining contour lines, for dividing at least one glass article from the glass substrate, the glass article having a shape and/or size different from the glass substrate of step (i), (iii) chemically strengthening the glass substrate on which at least one separating line is formed, the separating line extending in a depth direction from the first main surface to the second main surface, and (iv) separating of the at least one glass article from the glass substrate according to the at least one separating line. In addition, the glass substrate is coated between steps (iii) and (iv).

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a coated glass article comprising: a. preparing a glass substrate having a first main surface and a second main surface which are opposed to each other, b. irradiating at least the first main surface of the glass substrate with a laser to form, on the first main surface, at least one separating line defining contour lines, for dividing at least one glass article from the glass substrate, the glass article having a shape and/or size different from the glass substrate of step a, c. chemically strengthening the glass substrate on which at least one separating line is formed, the separating line extends in a depth direction from the first main surface to the second main surface, and d. separating of the at least one glass article from the glass substrate according to the at least one separating line, further comprising, between the chemically strengthening the glass substrate, and the separating at least one glass article from the glass substrate, coating the glass substrate.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the strengthening and the coating, a level of potassium on the first and second main surfaces of the glass article is higher than a level of potassium present on edges of the at least one glass article, and the level of potassium on the edges of the at least one glass article is higher than a level of potassium on a bulk of the glass article.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the separating line extends in a depth direction from the main surface to the opposite main surface.

4. The method according to claim 1, 4, wherein the separating line comprises a plurality of adjacent voids forming a spot-cutting line.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising cold-bending of the glass article.

6. A glass article obtained according to the method of claim 1.

7. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein a thickness of the glass article is in a range of 0.03 and 19 mm.

8. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein the glass article is cold-bended.

9. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein the glass article is a vehicle's interior glazing.

10. The glass article according to claim 9, wherein the glass article is vehicle's glass console, a dashboard or a trim element.

11. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein the glass article is provided with in face 1 an anti-glare, an anti-reflective and an anti-fingerprint coatings and a multicolored serigraphy and a safety film in face 2.

12. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein a thickness of the glass article is in a range of 0.03 mm and 6 mm.

13. The glass article according to claim 6, wherein a thickness of the glass article is in a range of 0.03 mm and 2.2 mm.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the glass article is configured to be a vehicle's glass console, a dashboard or a trim element.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the glass article in face 1 with an anti-glare, an anti-reflective and an anti-fingerprint coatings and a multicolored serigraphy and a safety film in face 2.

Description

[0034] FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a flow of a method of manufacturing a glass article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the FIG. 1.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 1, the method of manufacturing a coated glass article comprises the following steps of [0037] a. preparing a glass substrate having a first main surface and a second main surface which are opposed to each other, [0038] b. irradiating at least the first main surface of the glass substrate with a laser to form, on the first main surface, at least one separating line defining contour lines, for dividing at least one glass article from the glass substrate, the glass article having a shape and/or size different from the glass substrate of step a., [0039] c. chemically strengthening the glass substrate on which at least one separating line is formed, the separating line extends in a depth direction from the first main surface to the second main surface, [0040] d. separating of the at least one glass article from the glass substrate according to the at least one separating line.

[0041] According to the present invention, between the step of chemically strengthening the glass material on which the at least one separating line is formed (step c.), and the step of separating at least one glass article from the glass substrate according to the at least one separating line (step d.), the glass substrate is submitted to at least one step of coating.

[0042] According to the invention, the glass composition of the glass substrate is not particularly limited as long as its composition is suitable for chemical strengthening. The glass substrate may be, for example, soda-lime glass, aluminosilicate glass, alkali aluminosilicate glass . . . . The glass substrate according to the invention may be a glass substrate obtained by a floating process, a drawing process, a rolling process or any other process known to manufacture a glass sheet starting from a molten glass composition. According to a preferential embodiment according to the invention, the glass substrate is a float glass substrate. The term “float glass substrate” is understood to mean a glass substrate formed by the float glass process, which consists in pouring the molten glass onto a bath of molten tin, under reducing conditions.

[0043] The glass substrate according to the invention can have a thickness varying between 0.03 and 19 mm. Advantageously, the glass substrate according to the invention may have a thickness varying between 0.03 mm to 6 mm. Preferably, for reasons of weight and to be able to cold bend easily the glass article, the thickness of the glass substrate according to the invention is from 0.1 to 2.2 mm.

[0044] According to the invention, the glass substrate may be totally or partially curved to correctly fit with the particular design of the glass article and the support if the glass article has to be cold bent.

[0045] At this stage, the glass substrate is then subjected to chemical strengthening treatment.

[0046] According to the present invention, the glass substrate is irradiated with a laser to form the at least one separating line. Preferably, the glass substrate is irradiated with a laser to form the as at least one separating line as a “spot cutting line” defined by a the line of plurality of voids formed by the laser on at least the first main surface of the glass substrate.

[0047] Here, the “separating line” means a linear or curved region formed by arranging a line of plurality of voids in a predetermined arrangement.

[0048] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the depth of the line of plurality of voids corresponds to the thickness of the glass substrate in order to easily and properly separate the at least one glass article from the glass substrate.

[0049] Depending of the thickness of the glass substrate and/or the shape and or the size of the glass article, the required depth of voids may be obtained by submitting the first main surface of the glass substrate to a laser or by submitting the first and the second main surfaces of the glass substrate to a laser or by submitting the first main surface of the glass substrate to a multiple set of laser beams, in a successive way.

[0050] The predetermined arrangement of the “separating line” is for example a plurality of surface voids arranged in a fixed direction (X direction) on the first main surface of the glass substrate, thereby forming a in-plane void region.

[0051] Each surface void corresponds to the irradiation position of the laser on the at least first main surface and has a diameter of, for example, 1 μm to 5 μm. However, the diameter of the surface void varies depending on the laser irradiation condition, the type of the glass substrate . . . .

[0052] The center-to-center distance between adjacent surface voids is determined based on the composition and thickness of the glass substrate, laser processing condition, the shape and/or the size of the glass article . . . . For example, the center-to-center distance between adjacent surface voids may be in the range of 2 μm to 10 μm. It should be noted that the center-to-center distance between the surface voids does not have to be equal at all positions, and may be different depending on places. the voids may be arranged at irregular intervals.

[0053] On the other hand, as described above, the line of plurality of voids (spot cutting line) may be formed by arranging one or more voids in the glass substrate from the first main surface toward the second main surface.

[0054] The shape, size, and pitch of the voids are not particularly limited. For example, the void may have a shape such as a circle, an ellipse, a rectangle, a triangle, or the like when viewed from the Y direction. Further, the maximum dimension of the void, viewed from the Y direction is, for example, in the range of 0.1 μm to 1000 μm.

[0055] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the voids constituting at least one separating line are arranged along the thickness direction (Z direction) of the glass substrate. Preferably, each void of the separating line extends in the Z direction. However, each void constituting at least one separating line may be arranged from the first main surface to the second main surface of the glass substrate inclined with respect to the Z direction. at least one separating line constituting the separating line may or may not have a void (second surface void) opened to the second main surface which is opposite to the first main surface of the glass substrate.

[0056] Thus, as described above, I the separating line is not formed as a continuous “line”, but a virtual void region formed when each surface void is joined. It should be noted that it represents a linear region.

[0057] Furthermore, the separating line may be made of plurality of single parallel separating lines is arranged in an extremely close proximity to form one an aggregate of a plurality of parallel “lines”.

[0058] According to one embodiment, the first main surface of the glass substrate may be first irradiated with the laser and then the second main surface is irradiated. The first and the second main surfaces may be irradiated simultaneously or separately. The required depth of the voids constituting the separating line may be obtained by repeating the laser operation through the thickness of the glass substrate.

[0059] The laser suitable for the method according to the present invention, is for example, a short pulse laser. It is preferable that such a short pulse laser beam is a burst pulse to from efficiently voids constituting the at least one separating line. Further, the average output at the irradiation time of such a short pulse laser is, for example, 30 W or more. When this average output of the short pulse laser is less than 10 W, sufficient voids may not be formed in some cases. As an example of laser light of a burst pulse, one internal void row is formed by a burst laser with a pulse number of 3 to 10, the laser output is about 90% of the rated (50 W), the burst frequency is about 60 kHz, the burst time The width is from 20 picoseconds to 165 nanoseconds. As a time width of the burst, a preferable range is from 10 nanoseconds to 100 nanoseconds.

[0060] Following the formation of the at least one separating line, the glass substrate on which the at least one separating line defining contour lines of the at least one glass article is then subjected to a chemical strengthening process.

[0061] The conditions of the chemical strengthening treatment are not particularly limited. Chemical strengthening may be carried out, for example, by dipping the glass substrate on which the at least one separating line defining contour lines of the at least one glass article in molten salt at 380° C. to 500° C. for 1 minute to 72 hours.

[0062] As the molten salt, nitrate may be used. For example, when replacing the lithium ions contained in the glass substrate with a larger alkali metal ion, a molten salt containing at least one of sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, rubidium nitrate, and cesium nitrate may be used. Further, in the case of replacing the sodium ions contained in the glass substrate with a larger alkali metal ion, a molten salt containing at least one of potassium nitrate, rubidium nitrate, and cesium nitrate may be used. Furthermore, when replacing the potassium ion contained in the glass substrate with a larger alkali metal ion, a molten salt containing at least one of rubidium nitrate and cesium nitrate may be used.

[0063] In addition, one or more kinds of salts such as potassium carbonate may be further added to the molten salt. In this case, a low density layer having a thickness of 10 nm to 1 μm can be formed on the surface of the glass substrate.

[0064] By subjecting the glass substrate on which the at least one separating line defining contour lines of the at least one glass article to a chemical strengthening treatment, a compression stress layer can be formed on the first main surface and the second main surface of the glass substrate and on edges of the glass article. The thickness of the compressive stress layer corresponds to the penetration depth of alkali metal ions for substitution. For example, in the case of replacing sodium ions with potassium ions using potassium nitrate, the thickness of the compressive stress layer can be 8 μm to 27 μm for soda-lime glass, and the thickness of the compression stress layer for aluminosilicate glass is 10 μm to 100 μm. In the case of aluminosilicate glass, the penetration depth of alkali metal ions is preferably 10 μm or more, more preferably 20 μm or more.

[0065] Therefore, since the glass substrate has been chemically strengthened, it is easier to secure scratch-free appearance and strength of the glass article to be manufactured from the glass substrate, as compared with the conventional manufacturing method. Thus, the manufacturing yield may be increased.

[0066] Furthermore and more particularly, the glass article with its shape, after separation through separating lines, has end faces that are also chemically reinforced. Thus, a sufficient strength is be obtained for the glass article.

[0067] According to the present invention, before the at least one glass article is separated and collected from the glass substrate through the at least one separating line, the glass substrate is submitted to a coating treatment.

[0068] According to one embodiment of the invention, the glass sheet is coated with at least one transparent and electrically conducting thin layer. A transparent and conducting thin layer according to the invention can, for example, be a layer based on SnO2:F, SnO2:Sb or ITO (indium tin oxide), ZnO:Al or also ZnO:Ga.

[0069] According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the glass sheet is coated with at least one antireflection layer. An antireflection layer according to the invention may, for example, be a layer based on porous silica having a low refractive index or it may be composed of several layers (stack), in particular a stack of layers of dielectric material alternating layers having low and high refractive indexes and terminating in a layer having a low refractive index. A textured glass sheet may be also used. Etching or coating techniques may as well be used in order to avoid reflection.

[0070] According to another embodiment, the glass substrate is coated with at least one anti-fingerprint layer or has been treated so as to reduce or prevent fingerprints. Such a layer or such a treatment may be combined with a transparent and electrically conducting thin layer deposited on the opposite face. Such a layer may be combined with an antireflection layer deposited on the same face, the anti-fingerprint layer being on the outside of the stack and thus covering the antireflection layer.

[0071] According to another embodiment, the glass substrate is a digital or silk screen printed glass substrate, an etched glass substrate.

[0072] According to another embodiment, the glass substrate is coated with a paint/enamel, an anti-bacterial glass coating . . . .

[0073] According to the present invention, the term “coated/coating” may be a coating as such can be a coating as such as well as a paint or a surface treatment capable of modifying the properties of surface of the glass (mechanical, chemical, opto-energetical, biological, electrical, esthetical properties . . . ) by addition or deletion, modification physico-chemical of the surface material (at a temperature ‘visible for the glass’ lower than its Tg).

[0074] According to another embodiment, the glass substrate is coated with a coating chosen amongst the following list of non-exhaustive coatings: low-e coating, solar control coating, diamond like coatings, self-cleaning coatings (Tio2, . . . ), ion implantation coating, lacquer painting (Lacobel type), silver or dielectric coating, conductive inks, infrared transparent inks, semi-transparent inks, fluorescent or up-conversion materials, deposition of ‘mesh’ (silver nanowires, carbon nanotubes), (nano) laser structuration of the surface, a safety film, a double-sided adhesive, a sol-gel coating (with all their functions ie modification of the color, integration of enzymes, . . . ), solar type coatings and thin film etc, the acid attacks, the sanding, the engravings of surface . . . ,

[0075] According to the applications and/or properties desired, the coating may be provided on the first and/or the second main surfaces of the glass substrate. Also, a combination of several coating may be deposited on one and/or the other face of the glass substrate as a serigraphy and a coating as such . . . .

[0076] According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the glass article is provided with in face 1 (term well known for the skilled person) an anti-glare, an anti-reflective and an anti-fingerprint coatings and a multicolored serigraphy a safety film in face 2.

[0077] Once the at least one coating is applied on at least one of the first and second main surfaces of the glass substrate, the at least one glass article for which the shape is defined by at least one separating line, is separated from the glass substrate and collected from the glass substrate.

[0078] Thus, at least one coated strengthened glass article is obtained from a simplified method that can be used directly by the customer.

[0079] The at least one coated strengthened glass article obtained from the simplified method according to the present invention may cold be bended for example to have a desired and complexed shape. A complexed shaped, aesthetical and coated with some functionalities glass article may be obtained thanks to the present invention. The glass article, according to the present invention, may be used for example, in fields of cover glass for electronic equipment, glazing for building materials, glazing for vehicles . . . , for which high strength is often required for safety reasons and to be in line with safety rules required for such glazings.

[0080] The glass article obtained according to the present invention is particularly suitable as an interior vehicle glazing as such a console, a dashboard, car external windows, a glass trim element for which more and more complexed shaped are requested by car's manufacturers.

[0081] Thus, the present invention concerns also a glass article obtained by the method described above.