Perfluoroalkoxy copolymer coated glass and method of manufacturing same

Abstract

An apparatus and method for coating glass, and specifically to perfluoroalkoxy copolymer coated glass and a method for manufacturing same. A glass substrate is placed on an electrically grounded support and cleaned with a solvent to remove impurities and prepare the surface of the substrate to be coated. The surface is coated with a primer and an electro-conductive enhancer is uniformly applied to the primer so that the surface of the glass substrate is wet, but not uneven. The perfluoroalkoxy copolymer is powder sprayed on the electro-conductive enhancer while the enhancer is still wet. The perfluoroalkoxy copolymer is secured to the glass substrate by evaporating the electro-conductive enhancer.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM [0001] This application is a divisional of and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 186,368, filed Jun. 27, 2002, the entire contents are incorporated herein.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates in general to coated glass, and specifically to perfluoroalkoxy copolymer coated glass and a method of manufacturing perfluoroalkoxy copolymer coated glass. [0003] Coatings have been applied to glass to change one or more characteristics of the glass. One such coating is perfluoroalkoxy copolymer (“PFA”) which is one of the compounds sold by E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company under the trademark Teflon®. PFA is most commonly used as a non-stick coating on cookware such as pots and pans. PFA has also been used to coat glass such as automobile windshields and light bulbs. [0004] The structure of PFA makes it highly resistive to sticking or adhering to other substances. In particular, the structure of perfluoroalkoxy copolymer is ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing perfluoroalkoxy copolymer coated glass and the resulting coated glass substrate. The method involves applying a layer of primer to the surface of the glass substrate, cleaning the surface with a solvent, applying an electro-conductive enhancer to the primer, and then applying a layer of PFA to the enhancer. The PFA is applied to the glass substrate by spraying or dipping the substrate. The resulting coated glass substrate is clearer and more transparent, with a strong bond between the PFA and the glass substrate. The method can be used on a wide variety of glass substrates and products.

Problems solved by technology

However, there are certain problems with known PFA coated glass.

One known problem is that although the PFA coats the glass, it does not form a strong bond with or strongly adhere to the glass because of its highly resistive nature with respect to other molecules.

Thus, when a glass substrate or glass product coated with PFA shatters or breaks, certain of the glass shards or pieces break away from the PFA coating.

Therefore, the glass shards in these products can become loose and break away from the surfaces of these products.

The glass shards are unsafe and may cause injury or severe injuries to users of these glass products.

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