Ultrathin chemically toughened glass article and method for the production of such a glass article

Abstract

A method for producing an ultrathin chemically toughened glass article is provided that includes: providing an ultrathin glass sheet with a first surface and a second surface joined by at least one edge, having a thickness between the first and the second surface, chemically toughening the ultrathin glass sheet to produce an ultrathin toughened glass article. The method includes applying an edge pre-treatment to the at least one edge, preferably all edges, of the ultrathin glass sheet prior to the chemical toughening in order to reduce and/or blunt edge defects and to increase resistance to breakage of the ultrathin glass sheet during the chemical toughening.

Claims

1. A method for producing an ultrathin chemically toughened glass article, comprising: providing an ultrathin glass sheet with a first surface and a second surface joined by at least one edge, the ultrathin glass sheet having a thickness between the first and the second surfaces; chemically toughening the ultrathin glass sheet to produce an ultrathin chemically toughened glass article; and applying an edge pre-treatment to the at least one edge of the ultrathin glass sheet prior to the chemical toughening step in order to reduce and/or blunt edge defects and to increase resistance to breakage of the ultrathin glass sheet during the chemical toughening.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one edge comprises a plurality of edges and wherein the step of applying the edge pre-treatment comprises applying to all of the plurality of edges.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying an edge post-treatment to the at least one edge of the ultrathin chemically toughened glass article after the chemical toughening step in order to further reduce and/or blunt defects and to strengthen the toughened ultrathin glass article.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the at least one edge comprises a plurality of edges and wherein the step of applying the edge post-treatment comprises applying to all of the plurality of edges and to the first and the second surfaces.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the edge pre-treatment step is selected from the group consisting of a chemical treatment, a mechanical treatment, a high-temperature treatment, and any combinations thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step reduces a surface roughness to less than 10 m.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step removes an amount of material that is less than 25.0 m.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step is selected from the group consisting of a chemical treatment, a mechanical treatment, a high-temperature treatment, and any combinations thereof.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step comprises etching with an acidic solution.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the acidic solution comprises, in aqueous solution, a compound selected from the group consisting of HF, H.sub.2SO.sub.4, HCl, NH.sub.4HF.sub.2, and any combinations thereof.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the acidic solution comprises a concentration of Hydrogen ions of less than 25 mol/L.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step comprises a high-temperature laser treatment.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edge pre-treatment step comprises a polishing treatment.

14. The method according to claim 13, where the polishing treatment comprises forming a stack of several ultrathin glass sheets and applying the polishing treatment to a side of the stack of ultrathin glass sheets relative to the stacking direction.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the ultrathin glass sheet with an essentially rectangular shape having rounded corners with a corner radius of equal or less than 20 mm.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the edge pre-treatment is applied to edge(s) bordering the rounded corners.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the ultrathin glass sheet with at least one hole, the at least one hole being circular or essentially rectangular with rounded corners.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the edge pre-treatment is applied to edge(s) bordering the rounded corners.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the chemically toughening step comprises controlling an ion-exchange rate during the chemical toughening to achieve a depth of an ion-exchange layer DoL (L.sub.DoL) of less than 30 m, a surface compressive stress CS (.sub.CS) between 100 MPa and 700 MPa, and a central tensile stress CT (.sub.CT) less than 120 MPa, wherein the thickness t, DoL, CS and CT of the ultrathin toughened glass article meet the relationship $\frac{0.2 .Math. .Math. t}{L_{DoL}} \frac{_{CS}}{_{CT}} .$

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the chemical toughening includes an ion-exchange in a salt bath between 350-700 C. for 15 minutes to 48 hours.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising separating the ultrathin glass sheet from a coiled up glass ribbon having a length of at least 10 meters.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the coiled up glass ribbon has an inner radius chosen so that a innermost layer of the coil is subjected to a tensile stress A.sub.app, being smaller than: $\begin{matrix} 1.15 .Math. Min ({\overline{}}_{a} -_{a} .Math. 0.4 .Math. (1 - \ln (\frac{A_{ref}}{A_{App}} .Math.)), {\overline{}}_{e} -_{e} .Math. 0.4 .Math. (1 - \ln (\frac{L_{ref}}{L_{App}} .Math.))), & (1) \end{matrix}$ where L.sub.ref being the edge length and A.sub.ref being the surface area of the side faces of glass ribbon samples, .sub.a being the median of the tensile stress of samples of the glass ribbon upon break of the samples in case that the break occurs within a side face of the samples, and .sub.e being the median of the tensile stress of samples of the glass ribbon upon break of the samples in case that the break emanates from an edge of the samples, .sub.e and .sub.a being standard deviations of the tensile stress upon break of the samples at the edge or within a side face of the samples, respectively, A.sub.app being the surface area of one side face the glass ribbon and L.sub.app being the cumulated edge length of the longitudinal edges of the glass ribbon, and being a specified maximum rate of breakage within a time interval of at least half a year.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the inner radius of the coil is chosen so that the innermost layer of the coil is subjected to a tensile stress A.sub.app smaller than $0.93 .Math. Min ({\overline{}}_{a} -_{a} .Math. 0.4 .Math. (1 - \ln (\frac{A_{ref}}{A_{app}} .Math.)), {\overline{}}_{e} -_{e} .Math. 0.4 .Math. (1 - \ln (\frac{L_{ref}}{L_{app}} .Math.))) .$

24. The method according to claim 22, further comprising choosing a maximum rate of breakage being less than 0.1.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the inner radius of the coil is chosen so that the innermost layer of the coil is subjected to a tensile stress A.sub.app of at least 22 MPa.

26. The method according to claim 21, further comprising the step of etching the longitudinal edges of the glass ribbon prior to forming the coil.

27. The method according to claim 21, wherein the chemically toughening step comprises: providing a glass ribbon wound to a glass coil; continuously decoiling the glass coil; while decoiling, chemically toughening the glass ribbon in a section decoiled from said glass coil; and recoiling the chemically toughened glass ribbon to provide a glass coil.

28. The method according to claim 1, wherein the chemically toughening step comprises: spraying an aqueous potassium salt solution onto the ultrathin glass sheet; pre-heating the ultrathin glass sheet to evaporate water of the aqueous solution so as to leave the potassium salt on the ultrathin glass sheet, and subsequently moving the ultrathin glass sheet through a toughening furnace, the furnace further heating the ultrathin glass sheet so that an ion exchange for the chemical toughening is promoted.

29. An ultrathin glass sheet made according to claim 1.

30. An ultrathin chemically toughened glass article produced by the method according to claim 1.

31. The ultrathin chemically toughened glass article according to claim 30, comprising a depth of an ion-exchange layer DoL (L.sub.DoL) that is less than 30 m, a surface compressive stress CS (.sub.CS) that is between 100 MPa and 700 MPa, and a central tensile stress CT (.sub.CT) that is less than 120 MPa, wherein the thickness t, DoL, CS and CT of the toughened ultrathin glass article meet the relationship $\frac{0.2 .Math. .Math. t}{L_{DoL}} \frac{_{CS}}{_{CT}} .$

32. The ultrathin chemically toughened glass article according to claim 30, further comprising a bending having radius of 150 mm or less.

33. The ultrathin chemically toughened glass article according to claim 30, comprising a flexural strength of 200 MPa or more.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0103] The figures used for illustration of the invention show:

[0104] FIG. 1: edge quality of an exemplary as-cut ultrathin glass;

[0105] FIG. 2: clamping-force induced cracks in toughened 0.1 mm glass sheets;

[0106] FIG. 3a: schematic cut view of the edge of an as-cut glass sheet;

[0107] FIG. 3b: schematic cut view of an etched glass sheet prior to chemical toughening;

[0108] FIG. 4: shape and dimensions of an ultrathin glass article according to the invention as used as glass samples in examples 1 to 4;

[0109] FIG. 5: comparison of strengths of two different glass types XensationCover and glass samples according to example 2 that were treated in four different ways;

[0110] FIG. 6a: cumulative probability for the three point bending strength of the two different glass types XensationCover

[0111] FIG. 6b: cumulative probability for the three point bending strength of the glass samples according to example 2;

[0112] FIG. 7: schematic view of a glass ribbon coiled up to form a coil;

[0113] FIG. 8: a schematic view of an embodiment of a roll-to-roll process;

[0114] FIG. 9: a schematic view of a device for continuous production of a glass ribbon;

[0115] FIG. 10: an embodiment with deposition of aqueous potassium salt solution onto the glass ribbon prior to chemical toughening;

[0116] FIG. 11: an embodiment where the glass ribbon is heated up prior to chemical toughening and cooled down after chemical toughening in a single furnace.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0117] FIG. 1 shows an image of the edge quality of an ultrathin glass sheet 1 as-cut i.e. without further treatment of an edge 2 after cutting. The edge clearly shows numerous sharp cracks 3 and chippings 4 as a direct result from the cutting of the glass e.g. after scribing and breaking by diamond wheel or diamond tip.

[0118] FIG. 2 shows a toughening holder 5 with several glass sheets 6.1 to 6.5 held in it. During toughening, the glass sheets 6.1 to 6.5 are placed vertically on the toughening holder 5. The two cutting edges of the vertical arranged glass sheets 6.1 to 6.5 are clamped by two zigzag steel sticks 7. After loading the ultrathin glass on the sample holder 5 into the melted salt bath, which is typically above 400 C., the different thermal expansion coefficients of steel stick 7 and glass sheets 6.1 to 6.5 induce a clamping force. Under the force, the cracks and chippings may propagate and induce the breakage 8 of the ultrathin glasses during toughening as can be seen in several of the glass sheets 6.2 and 6.4 of FIG. 2. The toughening yield for thin and ultrathin glass sheets 6.1 to 6.5 is therefore generally rather poor.

[0119] FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b show schematic cut-views of edges 10 of ultrathin glass sheets as-cut (FIG. 3a) and after an edge pre-treatment including edge etching according to the invention (FIG. 3b). The sharp flaws 11 of as-cut ultrathin glasses are blunted 12 by etching as shown in FIG. 3b. The stress in the glass thus is decreased significantly which benefits the toughening yield for ultrathin glasses. This method has proven to be surprisingly efficient for glasses with holes or rounded corners. Considering the stress related to the size of the defects and the curvature of the defects, however, there is a balance of etching: since the etching blunts the flaws on the one hand, it also increases the size of defects to some extent on the other hand. To specific optimal amount of etching can depend on a variety of parameters and is to be determined e.g. dependent on the glass type, thickness of the glass, etching solution etc.

[0120] FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of the shape of an exemplary ultrathin glass sheet or ultrathin chemically toughened glass article 15 according to the invention as it is used as samples in the examples 1 to 4. The glass article 15 has an essentially rectangular form with a width B, a length L and rounded corners with a Radius A. The glass article 15 has a circular hole 16 at one of its corners centered at a distance D from the neighboring edges 17. In the examples 1 to 4 below, D=10 mm and a=5 mm whereas A=10 mm. The ratio of L and B of the glass article 15 as displayed in FIG. 4 does not correspond to the values given in the examples 1 to 4 and rather serves for the illustration of the basic shape.

[0121] FIG. 5 shows comparative values for the strength of two different glass types D263 and AS87 by SCHOTT which have been treated in four different ways according to the below described example 2. The corresponding strengths for as-cut (Raw), only pre-etched (E), only toughened (T) and (pre)etched-toughened-(post)etched samples for both glass types are shown. FIG. 5 is further described in context with example 2.

[0122] FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b show double logarithmic plots for the cumulative probability in % for a resulting strength of the glass samples according to example 2 for the four different treatments as described in context with FIG. 5. FIGS. 6a and 6b are further described in context with example 2.

[0123] FIG. 7 shows an example of a coil 33 as described above. A glass ribbon 31 is coiled up to form coil 33 having the shape of a hollow cylinder. The longitudinal edges 322, 323 of the glass ribbon 1 form the abutting faces of coil 33. In the embodiment as shown, the inner face 331 of the coil is exposed. In difference to the embodiment of FIG. 7, the glass ribbon 1 may also be wound about a shaft so that the inner face 331 is in contact to the outer shaft surface.

[0124] To protect the surfaces of the glass ribbon 31, a sheet material 37 may be wrapped in. This sheet material 37 radially separates the layers of the glass ribbon 33. A paper ribbon or a plastic foil may suitably be used as sheet material 37.

[0125] FIG. 8 shows a schematic of a device for carrying out the method according to the invention. According to this embodiment, the glass ribbon 31 is treated in a roll-to-roll process. Thus, processing is based on the method steps of providing a glass ribbon 31 wound to a coil 30; continuously decoiling coil 30; while decoiling, chemically toughening the glass ribbon 31 in a section decoiled from coil 30; coiling up the chemically toughened glass ribbon 31 to provide a further coil 33.

[0126] The device comprises rolls 130, 131, 132, 133, 134 to transport the glass ribbon 31. Arrows indicate the direction of movement. The rotational speed of rolls 130 to 134 determines the feeding speed of the glass ribbon 31. However, not all of the rolls need to be powered. For example, roll 134 may be powered to move the glass ribbon. The other rolls 130-133 are guiding and supporting the glass ribbon 31 and are rotated by means of the moving ribbon.

[0127] The uncoiled sections of the glass ribbon first pass through a pre-treatment unit 140. In this unit 140, the edge pre-treatment according to the invention is carried out. Optionally, further steps such as cleaning of the glass surface may be performed.

[0128] Thereafter, the glass ribbon 31 traverses a pre-heating furnace 150 which gradually heats up the glass to the temperature for the subsequent chemical toughening. Pre heating avoids or minimizes mechanical strains due to temperature differences in the glass. The pre-heating furnace 150 may be designed to provide a temperature gradient along the movement path to attain a slow, uniform and continuous heating.

[0129] A pre-heating furnace 150 or a heating step prior to chemical toughening, respectively, including heating the glass article up from a starting temperature to a temperature suitable for subsequent chemical toughening is not restricted to a particular embodiment with a roll-to-roll treatment. Generally, pre-heating may also be used in a batch processing of separate glass sheets or in an inline chemical toughening treatment after hot-forming the ribbon. Typically, the glass article is heated up to a temperature between 300 C. to 550 C.

[0130] After pre-heating, the glass ribbon traverses a chemical toughening unit 160. Within this unit, the ribbon 31 is immersed into a molten salt bath 170. The salt bath contains potassium ions which are exchanged with sodium or lithium ions.

[0131] The advance speed of the glass ribbon is set so that the desired time for toughening within the salt bath 170 is met. The time for toughening depends on the temperature of the salt bath 170 as well as on the DoL to be achieved. For example, a DoL in the range of 3-5 m may be readily obtained with a toughening time of 10-15 minutes.

[0132] After the toughening, the glass ribbon 31 preferably undergoes a post-treatment in a post-treatment unit 180. The post-treatment unit 180 may in particular include a lehr or cooling furnace, respectively. Due to the slow cooling down of the ribbon within the lehr, mechanical strains are removed. As for the pre-heating furnace 150, the lehr may have a temperature gradient, however, in this case with the highest temperature at its entrance and the lowest temperature at its exit. Preferably, the glass ribbon 31 is cooled down to a temperature of less than 150 C. prior to recoiling the ribbon to a further roll 33.

[0133] FIG. 9 shows a variant of the embodiment as described above. This variant differs from the embodiment of FIG. 8 in that the edge treatment and chemical toughening according to the invention are incorporated into the hot forming process of the glass ribbon. According to this embodiment, generally, the glass ribbon 31 is formed in a hot forming device 190 and spooled to form a coil 33. The edge treatment, in particular an etching and the chemical toughening are carried out between the hot forming and spooling steps. Accordingly, the pre-treatment unit 140 and the chemical toughening unit 160 are positioned between hot forming unit 190 and roll 134 which spools the ribbon to form coil 33.

[0134] Any suitable hot forming process may be employed. In the embodiment as shown, the glass ribbon is formed from a melt 200, e.g. by down-drawing or overflow fusion. However, the ribbon may also be formed from a heated preform by redrawing.

[0135] FIG. 10 shows another variant of the embodiment of FIG. 8. This variant is independent on how the ultrathin glass sheet is provided. As exemplary shown, a roll-to-roll processing similar to FIG. 8 may be employed. However, this embodiment may also be integrated as an inline processing within a hot forming process of a glass ribbon. Further, a batch processing of separate ultrathin glass sheets is possible as well.

[0136] After being edge-treated within pre-treatment unit 140, the decoiled sections of ribbon 31 pass through a spraying unit 210. Within this unit, an aqueous solution of at least one potassium salt is sprayed onto the surface of the glass ribbon 31. Within pre-heating furnace 150 the glass ribbon 31 is heated. Thereby, water from the aqueous solution is evaporated, leaving a salt film on both opposite surfaces of the ribbon 31. The glass then passes through the furnace 160 for chemical toughening. Therein, the salt melts and the ion exchange for the chemical toughening is promoted. The glass then passes through a post treatment unit 180 in which the glass is treated as described above. The post treatment may include a cleaning step to remove the salt from the glass surface. Finally, the ribbon 31 is spooled to form a further coil 33.

[0137] Differently from the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 10, pre-heating and/or cooling down after the ion exchange may be carried out in the same furnace used for the chemical toughening.

[0138] FIG. 11 shows an embodiment with a continuous furnace 230 that serves both as a pre-heating furnace and a lehr or cooling furnace. For this purpose ribbon 31 passes through the furnace 230 twice and in reversed directions. The ribbon 31 may be bend over a roll 131 to deflect its direction of movement.

[0139] The furnace 230 may be set up to provide a temperature gradient 220 ranging from a temperature T.sub.l at furnace opening 231 to a higher temperature T.sub.h at opening 232. The ribbon 31 passes a first time and thereby is gradually heated up from temperature T.sub.l to temperature T.sub.h and then enters the furnace 160 for chemical toughening. Temperature T.sub.h may be equal to or close to the temperature within furnace 160. The ribbon 31 is deflected and is again guided through the furnace 230. This time, however, the ribbon traverses the temperature gradient in reverse direction and therefore is gradually cooled down.

[0140] Without loss of generality, alkali containing glasses are employed for the following examples. It is immediately clear that any other ion-exchangeable glasses as e.g. silicate or borosilicate glasses or other glasses that can be chemically toughened by other means will also benefit from the present invention. Alkali containing glasses as e.g. according to PCT/CN2013/072695 by SCHOTT are particularly suitable.

[0141] The following tables give an overview over the compositions (Table 1) and selected properties (Table 2) of examples 1 to 4 as described in the following.

TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 1 Exemplary embodiments of alkali-contained borosilicate glass Composition Example Example Example Example (wt. %) 1 2 3 4 SiO.sub.2 80 64 70 61 Al.sub.2O.sub.3 3 7 1 18 LiO 5 Na.sub.2O 5 6 8 10 K.sub.2O 6 8 1 CaO 7 1 BaO 2.5 ZnO.sub.2 5 2.4 ZrO.sub.2 3 B.sub.2O.sub.3 12 8 0.1 1 TiO.sub.2 4 1

TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 2 Property of the exemplary embodiments Property Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 E 64 GPa 73 GPa 72 GPa 83 GPa Tg 525 C. 557 C. 533 C. 505 C. CTE 3.3 10.sup.6/K 7.2 10.sup.6/K 9.4 10.sup.6/K 8.5 10.sup.6/K Annealing 560 C. 557 C. 541 C. 515 C. point Density 2.2 g/cm.sup.3 2.5 g/cm.sup.3 2.5 g/cm.sup.3 2.5 g/cm.sup.3 1.2 W/mK 0.9 W/mK 1 W/mK 1 W/mK 1 * 86 MPa 143 MPa 220 MPa 207 MPa 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 R 391 W/m 196 W/m 260 W/m 235 W/m T 652 C. 435 C. 520 C. 469 C. 29.1 GPa*cm3/g 29.2 GPa*cm3/g 28.8 GPa*cm3/g 33.2 GPa*cm3/g

EXAMPLE 1

[0142] Glass with a composition according to example 1 in Tables 1/2 is produced by a down-draw method and cut into 440 mm360 mm0.1 mm glass sheets. These sheets were then cut with a 100 Penett diamond cutting wheel with 360# teeth. 40 samples with dimensions 50 mm50 mm (see FIG. 4, L=50 mm, B=50 mm), 142 mm75 mm (see FIG. 4, L=142 mm, B=75 mm), and 300 mm200 mm (see FIG. 4, L=300 mm, B=200 mm) were cut. The samples were provided by means of a CO.sub.2 laser with one circular hole (16, FIG. 4) with a radius of a=5 mm and four rounded corners with radius A=10 mm as shown in FIG. 4. The samples were also provided with four R5 corners (the radius of the corner is 5 mm) as shown in FIG. 4. In addition, 60 pieces 20 mm50 mm0.1 mm were cut. The edges of half of the amount of the as-cut samples were etched by NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 solution (edge pre-treatment). The etching amount was around 1 m. All samples were chemically toughened in 100% KNO.sub.3 for 15 hours at 430 C. The pre-etched and toughened samples were also post-etched after toughening (post-treatment). The remaining 30 samples were only chemically toughened without any pre- or post-treatment as reference samples. After the ion-exchange, the toughened samples were cleaned and measured with FSM 6000. The result is an average CS of 122 MPa and the DoL is 13.2 m. The toughening yield of the reference samples with holes and rounded corners is very low. However, surprisingly, the toughening yield of the pre-etched samples is significantly increased. The details of the increase in yield are displayed in Table 3 (a) and (b) where the reference samples are compared with the pre-etched samples. The additional post-etching increases the strength by removing or blunting flaws or micro cracks that are induced by the chemical toughening. After post-etching, the CS is 97 MPa and the DoL is 11.8 m.

TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 3 (a) Toughening yield of example 1 with holes and rounded corners without pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm <48.1% <51.4% <56.8% <56.8% >98.7% >98.9% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm <32.8% <34.6% <41.2% <44.5% >98.8% >99.4% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm <16.7% <19.4% <28.5% <30.1% >99.5% >99.4% >99.8%

TABLE-US-00010 TABLE 3 (b) Toughening yield of example 1 with holes and rounded corners with pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm >86.7% >89.2% >92.0% >95.7% >99.0% >99.7% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm >83.3% >84.8% >86.7% >86.7% >98.9% >99.5% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm >74.3% >75.8% >85.8% >86.4% >99.5% >99.5% >99.8%

[0143] A three point bending test has been performed in a universal mechanical test machine for the 20 mm50 mm samples. The result showed that the toughened glass of the reference samples has a flexural strength of 147 MPa and a bending radius of 45 mm without breakage. The strength of the toughened samples with pre- and post-etching is around 200 MPa and the bending radius is near 30 mm. The flexibility is remarkably enhanced by the pre- and post-treatment according to the invention.

EXAMPLE 2

[0144] Glass with a composition according to example 2 in Tables 1/2 is produced by a down-draw method and cut into 440 mm360 mm0.1 mm glass sheets. The glass sheets were then cut with a 100 Penett diamond cutting wheel with 360# teeth. 40 samples with dimensions 50 mm50 mm (see FIG. 4, L=50 mm, B=50 mm), 142 mm75 mm (see FIG. 4, L=142 mm, B=75 mm), and 300 mm200 mm (see FIG. 4, L=300 mm, B=200 mm) were cut. The samples were provided with one circular hole (16, FIG. 4) with a radius of a=5 mm and four rounded corners with radius A=10 mm as shown in FIG. 4.

[0145] In addition, 90 pieces 20 mm50 mm0.1 mm were cut. The edges of 60 pieces of the as-cut samples were etched by NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 solution for 5 min (edge pre-treatment). The etching amount is around 1 m. Then 30 samples were chemically toughened in 100% KNO.sub.3 for 3 hours at 400 C. The pre-etched and toughened samples were also post-etched after toughening (post-treatment). 30 samples were only chemically toughened without any pre- or post-treatment as reference samples.

[0146] After the ion-exchange, the toughened samples were cleaned and measured with FSM 6000. The result is an average CS is 304 MPa and the DoL is 14.0 m. The toughening yield of the reference samples with holes and rounded corners is very low. However, surprisingly, the toughening yield of the pre-etched samples is significantly increased. The details of the increase in yield are displayed in Tables 4 (a) and (b) where the reference samples are compared with the pre-etched samples. The additional post-etching increases the strength by removing or blunting flaws and/or micro cracks that are induced by the chemical toughening. After post-etching, the CS is 280 MPa and the DoL is 13.4 m.

TABLE-US-00011 TABLE 4 (a) Toughening yield of example 2 with holes and rounded corners without pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm <47.1% <53.2% <55.7% <58.2% >98.7% >99.1% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm <19.8% <33.6% <43.7% <46.2% >98.8% >98.9% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm <16.7% <21.4% <27.5% <33.1% >99.5% >99.5% >99.8%

TABLE-US-00012 TABLE 4 (b) Toughening yield of example 2 with holes and rounded corners with pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 >0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm >87.2% >89.7% >93.1% >95.8% >99.2% >99.2% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm >84.3% >84.8% >87.2% >88.7% >98.9% >99.0% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm >77.3% >80.8% >86.3% >87.5% >98.5% >99.0% >99.8%

[0147] A three point bending test has been performed in a universal mechanical test machine for the pre-etched, toughened, and (pre)etched-toughened-(post)etched samples (30 pieces each). The following table shows the resulting average bending strengths for differently treated samples:

TABLE-US-00013 TABLE 5 (a) Strength comparison of differently treated samples of example 2 Samples Strength as-cut (RAW) ~177 MPa (pre)etched (E) ~529 MPa toughened (T) ~680 MPa (pre)etched, toughened, ~1520 MPa (post)etched (ETE)

[0148] The toughened glass of the reference samples with the flexural strength of 680 MPa has a bending radius of 30 mm without breakage. The toughened samples with pre- and post-etching with a strength of 1520 MPa have a bending radius of nearly 10 mm. The flexibility is thus remarkably enhanced by the pre- and post-treatment according to the invention.

[0149] Commercial aluminosilicate glass samples made from SCHOTT Xensation Cover were also prepared for comparison. The raw glass is 0.55 mm thick and cut by a 100 Penett diamond cutting wheel with 360# teeth into 10 mm10 mm0.55 mm and then polished to the thickness 0.1 mm. After that, the glass was chemically toughened at 390 C. for 1 hour. The resulting CS is around 808 MPa and the DoL is around 12.6 m. As-cut samples, only toughened samples and pre-etched, toughened, post-etched samples were prepared for comparison. The additional post-etching with NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 for 5 min significantly increases the strength by removing or blunting flaws and micro cracks that are induced by the chemical toughening. After post-etching, the CS is 758 MPa and the DoL is 11.7 m. The resulting average bending strengths for differently treated samples are as follows:

TABLE-US-00014 TABLE 5 (b) Strength comparison of differently treated samples of XensationCover Samples XensationCover Strength as-cut (RAW) ~150 MPa (pre)etched (E) ~312 MPa toughened (T) ~520 MPa (pre)etched, toughened, ~700 MPa (post)etched (ETE)

[0150] FIG. 5, FIG. 6a, and FIG. 6b show several comparative values for the glass samples of example 2 and XensationCover by SCHOTT. As can be immediately seen from FIG. 5, the different glass types show a different increase in strength achieved by the method of (pre)etching-toughening-(post)etching (ETE). The method according to the invention is more effective on the glass of example 2 than on XensationCover, but nevertheless shows a significant increase as compared to the as-cut (Raw), only (pre)etched (E) or only toughened (T) samples for both types of glasses.

[0151] As can be seen from FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b, the consistency of strength is also significantly enhanced for both glasses when comparing the cumulative probability for as-cut (RAW, solid with dots), only (pre)etched (E, long-dashed with squares), only toughened (T, short-dashed with diamonds) and (pre)etched-toughened-(post)etched (ETE, short-long dashed with triangles) samples.

[0152] It also becomes obvious from FIG. 5, FIG. 6a, and FIG. 6b that the only pre-etched samples have significantly higher strengths than the raw, as-cut samples which, ultimately, results in the high toughening yield according to the invention.

EXAMPLE 3

[0153] Glass with a composition according to example 3 in Tables 1/2 is produced by a down-draw method and cut into 440 mm360 mm0.1 mm glass sheets. These sheets were then cut with a 100 Penett diamond cutting wheel with 360# teeth. 40 samples with dimensions 50 mm50 mm (see FIG. 4, L=50 mm, B=50 mm), 142 mm75 mm (see FIG. 4, L=142 mm, B=75 mm), and 200 mm300 mm (see FIG. 4, L=300 mm, B=200 mm) were cut. The samples were provided with one circular hole (16, FIG. 4) with a radius of a=5 mm and four R5 corners (A=10 mm) as shown in FIG. 4. In addition, 60 pieces with dimensions 20 mm50 mm0.1 mm were cut. The edges of half of the amount of the as-cut samples were etched by NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 solution (edge pre-treatment). The etching amount is around 1 m. All samples were chemical toughened in 100% KNO.sub.3 for 2 hours at 420 C. The pre-etched samples were also post-etched after toughening (post-treatment). The remaining 30 samples were only chemically toughened without any edge pre- or post-treatment as reference samples. After the ion-exchange, the toughened samples were cleaned and measured with FSM 6000. The result is an average CS of 340 MPa and a Dol is 10.8 m. The toughening yield of the reference samples with the holes and rounded corners is very low. However, surprisingly, the toughening yield of the pre-etched samples is significantly increased. The details of the yield increase are displayed in Table 5 (a) and (b) where the reference samples are compared with the pre- and post-etched samples. The additional post-etching increases the strength by removing or blunting flaws or micro cracks that are induced by the chemical toughening. After the post-etching, the CS is 319 MPa and the DoL is 9.6 m.

TABLE-US-00015 TABLE 6 (a) Toughening yield of example 3 with holes and rounded corners without pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm <47.1% <52.7% <55.6% <56.9% >98.7% >98.7% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm <34.2% <37.6% <44.2% <48.5% >98.8% >99.2% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm <15.1% <15.4% <24.5% <31.1% >99.6% >99.6% >99.8%

TABLE-US-00016 TABLE 6 (b) Toughening yield of example 3 with holes and rounded corners with pre-etching Thickness (mm) Size 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.1 0.21 0.3 0.4 50 mm 50 mm >88.5% >89.8% >93.4% >96.4% >99.2% >99.2% >99.8% 142 mm 75 mm >85.4% >87.2% >88.4% >93.8% >98.9% >99.0% >99.8% 200 mm 300 mm >79.4% >83.6% >87.0% >89.8% >98.5% >99.0% >99.8%

[0154] A three point bending test had been performed in a universal mechanical test machine for the 20 mm50 mm samples. The result showed that the toughened glass of the reference samples has a flexural strength of 473 MPa and a bending radius of 40 mm without breakage. The strength of toughened samples with pre- and post-etching is around 545 MPa, and the bending radius is around 35 mm.

EXAMPLE 4

[0155] Glass with a composition according to example 4 in Tables 1/2 is 0.55 mm thick and cut by a 100 Penett diamond cutting wheel with 360# teeth into 60 samples with dimensions 10 mm10 mm0.55 mm. The pieces are then polished to a thickness of 0.1 mm. The edges of 30 pieces of the as-cut samples were etched by NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 solution. The etching amount is around 1 m. All samples were chemically toughened in 100% KNO.sub.3 for 4 hours at 420 C. The pre-etched and toughened samples were also post-etched after toughening (post-treatment). The remaining 30 samples were only chemically toughened without any edge pre- or post-treatment as reference samples. The resulting CS is around 814 MPa and the DoL is around 8.6 m. The bending strengths are approx. 580 MPa for the reference samples and approx. 750 MPa for the pre-etched and post-etched toughened samples. The additional post-etching increases the strength by removing or blunting flaws and micro cracks that are induced by the chemical toughening. After post-etching, the CS is 456 MPa and the DoL is 7.1 m.

Ultrathin chemically toughened glass article and method for the production of such a glass article

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Abstract

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