Method of making shaped glass articles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9688562-B2
Application number	US-201514676176-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2015
Priority date	Jul 2, 2008
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

In a method of making shaped glass articles, a glass sheet is placed on a mold having a shaping surface with a desired surface profile of a shaped glass article. The glass sheet is preferentially and rapidly heated by radiation while in the vicinity of the mold so that the mold remains substantially cooler than the glass sheet during the heating. The glass sheet is sagged onto the shaping surface of the mold so that at least a portion of the sagged sheet assumes the desired surface profile of the shaped glass article. After sagging and shaping, the sagged and shaped glass sheet is removed from the mold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making shaped glass articles, comprising:
placing a glass sheet on a mold having a shaping surface with a desired surface profile of a shaped glass article;
heating the glass sheet by radiation having a wavelength in a range from about 2.7 microns and about 4.5 microns while the glass sheet is in the vicinity of the mold so that the mold remains substantially cooler than the glass sheet during the heating;
conforming the glass sheet onto the shaping surface of the mold when a difference in temperature between the glass sheet and mold is at least 100° C. and less than 250° C. so that at least a portion of the glass sheet assumes the desired surface profile; and
removing the glass sheet having at least a portion that assumes the desired surface profile from the mold.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet is heated to a temperature below a softening point of the glass sheet in the heating step.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet is heated to a temperature between a softening point and an annealing point of the glass sheet in the heating step.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein conforming the glass sheet comprises applying vacuum in between the glass sheet and the shaping surface.

5. A method according to claim 4 , further comprising allowing the glass sheet to sag towards the shaping surface by gravity prior to applying the vacuum.

6. A method according to claim 4 , wherein the vacuum is applied before the glass sheet sags towards the shaping surface by gravity.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation has a wavelength in a range from about 2.85 microns to about 4.5 microns.

8. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising cooling down the glass sheet in the mold prior to removing the glass sheet from the mold.

9. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising cutting the glass sheet after conforming to obtain the shaped glass article in a selected size.

10. A method according to claim 9 , further comprising at least one of annealing the glass sheet, chemically-strengthening the shaped glass article, and applying anti-smudge coating on the shaped glass article.

11. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising cutting the glass sheet to a net shape required for forming the shaped glass article in a selected size prior to placing the glass sheet on the mold.

12. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet is placed on a plurality of molds in the placing step, the glass sheet is heated by radiation while in the vicinity of the plurality of molds in the heating step, and the glass sheet is conformed onto the shaping surfaces of the molds in the conforming step.

13. A method according to claim 12 , further comprising dicing the conformed glass sheet to obtain a plurality of shaped glass articles.

14. A method according to claim 13 , further comprising at least one of annealing the glass sheet, chemically-strengthening the shaped glass articles, and applying anti-smudge coating on the shaped glass articles.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Ukrainczyk Ljerka
• Saltzer Jr John Robert

Classifications

• C03B23/0307

  Press-bending involving applying local or additional heating, cooling or insulating means · CPC title

• C03B40/005

  Fabrics, felts or loose covers · CPC title

• C03C21/002

  to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions (C03C21/005 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C03C17/001

  General methods for coating; Devices therefor · CPC title

• C03B23/0235

  involving applying local or additional heating, cooling or insulating means · CPC title