Textured Glass with Multilayer Interference Coating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional texturing processes fail to produce desired reflective and color-tunable properties on aluminosilicate glass articles while maintaining or improving their hardness.
Innovation Solution
A coated textured glass article featuring a glass body with polyhedral surface features and a multilayer interference stack coating, which enhances reflectance, hardness, and allows for tunable color properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If conventional texturing processes are used on aluminosilicate glass articles, then the glass maintains its strength and fracture toughness, but the desired reflective appearance and color properties cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines textured glass surface with a multilayer dielectric coating system. The composite structure integrates the textured glass substrate (providing mechanical strength) with alternating high and low refractive index dielectric layers (providing enhanced reflectance and color tuning). This composite approach allows simultaneous achievement of structural integrity and optical performance that neither component could achieve alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs precise control of coating layer thicknesses (varying from tens to hundreds of nanometers) and refractive index parameters to tune the optical properties. By adjusting the thickness parameters of individual dielectric layers, the reflectance spectrum can be optimized for specific color outputs and brightness levels, transforming the optical response without altering the glass substrate structure.
2Illumination intensity
If conventional texturing processes are applied to achieve desired appearance, then surface texture can be modified, but hardness of the glass article deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The multilayer dielectric coating acts as a protective composite layer over the textured glass surface. These coating materials (such as silicon nitride, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide) inherently possess high hardness values, and when deposited as multiple layers, they form a composite structure that enhances the overall surface hardness while maintaining the underlying glass mechanical properties. This composite approach allows reflectance enhancement without compromising hardness.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass article undergoes ion exchange strengthening treatment before the texturing and coating processes. This preliminary action creates a compressed surface layer in the glass substrate that pre-hardens the material. Subsequent texturing and coating operations are performed on this pre-strengthened substrate, ensuring that the final article maintains high hardness despite surface modifications.
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 achieves a single side average photopic light reflectance of at least 4% and a peak reflectance of up to 50%, along with a hardness of at least 10 GPa, while providing tunable color properties.
Implementation Method 1
a coating disposed on the first surface of the body and the plurality of polyhedral surface features, the coating comprising a multilayer interference stack
Data Source
AI summary
A coated textured glass article is described herein that comprises: a glass body comprising a first surface; a plurality of polyhedral surface features extending from the first surface; and a coating disposed on the first surface of the body and the plurality of polyhedral surface features. Each of the plurality of polyhedral surface features comprises a base on the first surface and a plurality of facets extending from the base and converging toward one another. The coating comprises a multilayer interference stack.