Temperable Enamelled Glass Mineral Coating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current lacquered glass technologies face challenges with high-temperature heat treatments required for tempering, leading to mechanical strength and adhesion issues, and unsuitability for customer-specific interior design dimensions, as well as color changes and black residue formation during thermal processing.
Innovation Solution
A mineral coating based on an aqueous alkaline silicate solution with sodium, potassium, or lithium silicates, mineral fillers, and pigments is applied directly to the glass substrate, providing opacity and stability without high-temperature baking, ensuring adhesion and minimal color change during tempering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If organic paint is used to coat glass substrate, then the substrate can be decorated with opaque and colored aspect, but the substrate cannot be subjected to thermal tempering due to degradation of organic coating at high temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical composition parameters of the coating from organic-based to inorganic enamel-based, allowing the coating to withstand high temperatures during thermal tempering while maintaining decorative properties. The enamel composition includes glass frit, inorganic pigments, and organic vehicle, creating a coating that can be tempered at temperatures above 600°C without degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite enamel coating system consisting of multiple components: glass frit (providing adhesion and melting characteristics), inorganic pigments (providing color and opacity), and organic vehicle (providing workability). This composite structure enables both decorative functionality and thermal tempering capability that neither component could achieve alone.
2Reliability
If enamel is used to coat glass substrate, then the substrate can be subjected to thermal tempering, but the deposited layer has very low mechanical strength and hydrolytic resistance before melting
Solution Approach 1:
The invention modifies the enamel composition parameters, specifically adjusting the glass frit composition and organic vehicle ratio to optimize both green strength and melting characteristics. The enamel is formulated to achieve adequate mechanical strength in the unmelted state for handling and processing, while maintaining proper melting behavior during tempering to ensure final coating quality.
3Strength
If glass is tempered to increase mechanical strength, then the glass gains improved mechanical properties, but the glass cannot be cut or trimmed without breaking since it has definitive dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention reverses the conventional sequence by applying the enamel coating to glass substrates of various sizes and shapes before thermal tempering. The coating is applied to untempered glass, which can be easily cut and trimmed to customer-specific dimensions. Only after the coating is applied and the glass is tempered does the process complete, ensuring both custom dimensions and thermal tempering benefits.
4Strength
If additional resin is added to increase mechanical resistance of unmelted enamel, then the mechanical strength improves, but adhesion to glass deteriorates in the presence of water leading to delamination
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the enamel formulation by carefully balancing the resin content and composition. The organic vehicle and binders are selected and proportioned to achieve adequate green strength for handling while maintaining strong adhesion to glass substrates even in the presence of water. This prevents delamination during cutting, drilling, or washing operations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution allows for a lacquered glass substrate that is transportable, cuttable, and temperable at low temperatures, maintaining mechanical strength and adhesion while preventing color change and black residue formation, meeting safety standards and aesthetic requirements.
Implementation Method 1
coated, over some or the entirety of at least one of its faces, with an opaque coating layer... said layer, applied directly to the substrate, is a mineral paint based on an aqueous alkaline silicate solution
Implementation Method 2
The expression 'thermal tempering' is understood to mean that the substrate is heated to a temperature above 600° C. in air for a few minutes before being rapidly cooled
Data Source
AI summary
A colored lacquered substrate made of glass or glass-ceramic includes a mineral coating based on alkaline silicate, which achieves the required performance in terms of color and of change in color during tempering, and in terms of adhesion and of mechanical strength at low temperatures without requiring a high-temperature baking step.