Processing & Finishing
Like soda-lime float glass, alkaline aluminum glass can be easily processed such as cutting, edge polishing, laminating, coating, printing, sandblasting, double glazing. This multi-functional glazing, with aluminum glass as basis, can be applied everywhere where continue exploration is limitless.
Cutting
Cutting of flat alumino silicate glass can be done easily by conventional carbide or diamond cutting wheels. Water jet and glass laser cutting machine can also cut the glass easily.
Edge Polishing
Edges of high aluminium glass can be can be edge polish by a great deal of traditional glass edging machine such as vertical or horizontal glass straight or shape edge polishing machines. CNC glass working machine is also suitable to do the job. Edging tools are metal bond diamond wheels for coarse grinding. Resin bond diamond wheel for fine grinding. Polishing is done by rubber wheels, cerium oxide impregnated wheels and spiral wool felt wheels. Glass edge finishes could be flat edge and seam, arris, chamfer, pencil C round, bevel.
Holes Drilling
Glass holes are drilled by ordinary diamond core drilling bits with traditional vertical or horizontal glass drilling machines. CNC glass working centres and glass laser scribing and drilling can also do the drilling.
Engraving
Engraving can be done on Al2SiO5 aluminium silicate glass surface or even internally sub-surface.
Bending
Single pane borosilicate glass 4.0 can be thermally 3D shaped bent or curved by bending oven. Single or double curvature is also possible.
Screen Printing
Float alumino silicate flat glass sheet can be screen printed with stencils. When printed with designed images, it gives anesthetic visual effect. Images could be single or multi-colors.
Sandblasting
Matt surface finish of high AlSiO aluminum glass can be achieved physically by sandblasting with highly abrasive materials such as garnet and aluminum oxide.
Chemically Acid Etching
Though high Al2SiO aluminium glass is chemically resistant, it can still be etched by certain acid. Fine surface matte finish is obtained. If necessary, it can be non-finger print treated. Etching can be achieved by dipping, bathing, spraying or screen printing.
Surface Lapping
If surface micro-cracks are in issue, high content of aluminium glass surface can be lap polish to reduce invisible cracks to minimum. Surface lapping can obtain very precise flatness and consistency of thickness if perfect flatness and thickness tolerance are extremely tight. Surface lapping can also reduce glass thickness to required level.
Coating
High aluminum silicate Al2SiO7 glass turns into a versatile glazing with functional coatings. Solar control and low-e coatings reduces U-value, cut infra red and harmful UV. Certain types of coating such as ITO are widely applied in optical and electronics industries. Decorative coatings give the glass aesthetic visual effect. Glass coating brings comfort and artistic view. Vacuum thermal evaporation and metallization coating and vacuum magnetron target sputtering could be applied on aluminum glass. Aluminium silicate glass can also be processed into mirrors by chemical silvering or PVD coated with aluminium. Back paint protective coating on top of the mirror layer is done by glass curtain coating machine. Glass roll coating can also apply full surface of colour painting on aluminosilicate glass surfaces. Dip coating is also one of the usual coating processes if extremely high transparency is a must. High and medium content aluminum composition glass is loaded into a bath tank filled with special anti-reflective chemical liquid. It is then dried, cured and washed. Visible light transmission rate of anti-reflective treated aluminium silicate is increased further for few more percentage. It can be applied for window display, museums and shows rooms.
Spraying
Alumino silica glass can also be applied with functional coating layer by means of spraying. It could be gun nozzle spray. The spray layers could be anti-reflective, oleophobic or hydrophilia.
Chemically Strengthening
Chemical strengthening of aluminium silica glass perhaps is one of the most important processings especially for ultra thin glass. The chemical ion exchange glass can be applied where higher mechanical strengthen and meanwhile, flexibility is a concern. When breaks, it does not shatter into tiny fragments like thermal tempered glass behaves. Glass chemical toughening is also required for ordinary thick glass where high mechanical impact strength and flexible strength are concern.
Thermal Heat Bending
High aluminium silicate glass can be thermally 3D shaped bent or curved by bending oven. Single or double curvature is also possible. Softening point of aluminum silicate glass is higher than ordinary sodalime glass. Special glass bending technique shall be taken when high content of aluminum glass is laminated bent together with other layer of ordinary float glass. The two glass panes, with different glass softening points, may stick, melt and fuse together despite separating powders in between.
Physically Cold Bending
Chemically temper aluminum glass has phenomenal bending strength while at remarkable mechanical impact strength. Thin chemical toughen aluminium silica glass can be physically press and bend, at room temperature, into curve bend glass with very small radius of curvature. This extraordinary flexibility enables unlimited designs of curve cover glass displays. The physical cold bend process eliminates high temperature hot bending procedure. Glass ovens, furnaces and bending moulds, especially for ultra thin glass, are costly. Very high quality of bending ovens and moulds with proper design and build are needed together with very skillful high temperature bending technique. Qualified glass optical quality is not easy to achieve. Physical glass cold bending machine is very cheap. It could be done by operator, without any extra devices or apparatus, during assembly of curve devices.
Laminating
When single pane aluminum glass is laminated with another piece of soda-lime glass sandwiched by PVB interlayer, it is shatter proof and noise reduction as well. Safety alumina silicate glass displays has excellent bonding adhesion with PVB, SGP, PU and EVA interlayers.
Armoring
Aluminum glass can be multi-layers laminated with sodalime glass as armor ballistic bullet resistant security glass. Armor alumina silicate glass is very suitable for any applications where extra bending flexural strength with high mechanical properties are importation issue. Alumino silicate glass is very transparency. Multiple layers of glass do not affect visibility. Physical, mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of aluminate silicate glass are better than those of sodalime glass. Armor security glazing made of aluminate silica glass is particularly suitable to be used in harsh conditions and environments such as military purposes and arm forces.
Double Glazing
Further double glazing turns alumina silicate glass into an extraordinary energy save glazing. It reduces also noise pollution.
