Abstract:
A very protective coated glass article includes a glass substrate, a bond enhancing layer formed on the bond enhancing layer and a boron carbide layer deposited on the bond enhancing layer. A method of manufacturing the coated glass article is provided.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present disclosure relates to coated glass articles, particularly to a coated glass article having a high oxidation resistance and a high abrasion and scratch resistance, and a method for manufacturing the coated glass article. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Glass may be coated with a thin reflective coating (e.g., silver layer, aluminum layer or copper layer) to have the properties of high visible light transmission and a high heat resistance. However, the coatings may have a low oxidation resistance and a low abrasion and scratch resistance. 
         [0005]    Polythene films are often attached to the coatings to protect the coatings from abrasions and scratches. However, the polythene films may be thrown off from the coating during installation or use, and then the polythene films are not reusable. The polythene films are not bio-degradable. 
         [0006]    Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0007]    Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the exemplary coated glass article and a method for manufacturing the coated glass article. Moreover, in the drawings like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements of an embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a cross-section of a coated glass article according to an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of a vacuum sputtering coating machine for manufacturing the coated glass article of  FIG. 1   
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]      FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of a coated glass article  10  including a glass substrate  12 , a bond enhancing layer  14  deposited on the glass substrate  12 , and a boron carbide (B 4 C) layer  16  deposited on the bond enhancing layer  14 . The bond enhancing layer  14  has a thickness of about 10 nanometers (nm) to about 120 nm. The boron carbide layer  16  has a thickness of about 10 nm to about 60 nm. 
         [0011]    The bond enhancing layer  14  is deposited on the glass substrate  12  by magnetron sputtering. The bond enhancing layer  14  includes a first bond enhancing layer  142  and a second bond enhancing layer  144 . The first bond enhancing layer  142  abuts against the glass substrate  12 , and the second bond enhancing layer  144  abuts against the boron carbide layer  16 . The first bond enhancing layer  142  enhances the bonding between the glass substrate  12  and the second bond enhancing layer  144 . The first bond enhancing layer  142  can be made of a single material such as silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ), titanium nitride (Ti 3 N 4 ), titanium oxide (TiO 2 ), silicon oxide (SiO 2 ) and zinc oxide (ZnO). The second bond enhancing layer  144  can bond enhancing to filter ultraviolet light, reduce heat radiation or to have a self-cleaning action. The second bond enhancing layer  144  can be made of material selected from one of nickel chromium (NiCr), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu). 
         [0012]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , a method for manufacturing the coated glass article  10  may include at least the following steps: 
         [0013]    Providing a glass substrate  12 . 
         [0014]    Pretreating the glass substrate  12 . The pretreating process may include the step of polishing the surfaces of the glass substrate  12 . Then, the glass substrate  12  is cleaned by placing it into an organic solution to remove grease from its surfaces. The organic solution can be ethanol, or other organic solvents. Then, the glass substrate  12  is rinsed with water and dried. 
         [0015]    Providing a vacuum sputtering coating machine  100 . Referring to  FIG. 2 , the vacuum sputtering coating machine  100  includes a sputtering coating chamber  20  and a vacuum pump  30  communicating with the sputtering coating chamber  20 . The vacuum pump  30  is used to evacuate the sputtering coating chamber  20 . The vacuum sputtering coating machine  100  further includes two first targets  22 , two second targets  23 , two third targets  24 , a rotating bracket  25  and a plurality of gas inlets  26 . The rotating bracket  25  rotates the glass substrate  12  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  relative to the third targets  24 . The two first targets  22  face each other, and are located on opposite sides of the rotating bracket  25 , and the same arrangement is applied to the two second targets  23  and the third targets  24 . In this exemplary embodiment, the first targets  22  are made of silicon, titanium or zinc, the second targets  23  are made of NiCr, Ag, Al or Cu, the third targets  24  are made of boron. 
         [0016]    Depositing a first bond enhancing layer  142  on the pretreated glass substrate  12 . The glass substrate  12  is positioned in the vacuum sputtering coating machine  100 . The vacuum level inside the sputtering coating chamber  20  is evacuated to about 8.0×10 −3  Pa (Pascals). The inside of the sputtering coating chamber is heated to from about 100° C. (degrees Celsius) to about 420° C. Argon (Ar) may be used as a working gas and is fed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of about 200 sccm (standard cubic centimetres per minute) to about 400 sccm. Oxygen (O 2 ) or Nitrogen (N 2 ) may be used as the reaction gas. Oxygen may have a flow rate of about 25 sccm to about 55 sccm, nitrogen may have a flow rate of about 40 sccm to about 75 sccm. Electrical power is applied to the first targets  22  fixed in the sputtering coating chamber  20  are evaporated at a power between about 5 kW (kilowatts) to about 8 kW, and the glass substrate  12  may have a negative bias voltage of about −50 V (volts) to about −300 V, to deposit the fist bond enhancing layer  142  on the glass substrate  12 . The deposition of the fist bond enhancing layer  142  may take from about 15 minutes (min) to about 30 min 
         [0017]    Depositing a second bond enhancing layer  144  on the fist bond enhancing layer  142 . The vacuum level inside the sputtering coating chamber  20  is evacuated to about 8.0×10 −3  Pa. The inside of the sputtering coating chamber is heated to from about 100° C. (degrees Celsius) to about 420° C. Argon may be used as the working gas and is fed into sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of about 200 sccm to about 400 sccm. Power is applied to the second targets  23  fixed in the sputtering coating chamber  20  are evaporated at a power between about 10 kW to about 15 kW, and the glass substrate  12  may have a negative bias voltage of about −50 V to about −300 V applied to it, to deposit the second bond enhancing layer  144  on the fist bond enhancing layer  142 . The deposition of the second bond enhancing layer  144  may take from about 15 min to about 30 min. 
         [0018]    Depositing the boron carbide layer  16  on the second bond enhancing layer  144 . The vacuum level inside the sputtering coating chamber  20  is evacuated to about 8.0×10 −3  Pa. The inside of the sputtering coating chamber is heated to from about 100° C. (degrees Celsius) to about 420° C. Argon may be used as the working gas and is fed into sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of about 200 sccm to about 400 sccm. Acetylene gas (C 2 H 2 ) may be used as the reaction gas and have a flow rate of about  60  sccm to about 125 sccm. Power is applied to the third targets  24  fixed in the sputtering coating chamber  20  are evaporated at a power between about 1 kW to about 20 kW, and the glass substrate  12  may have a negative bias voltage of about −50 V to about −300 V applied to it, to deposit the boron carbide layer  16  on the first bond enhancing layer  144 . The deposition of the boron carbide layer  16  may take from about 10 min to about 60 min. 
       EXAMPLES 
     Example 1 
       [0019]    1. Depositing a first bond enhancing layer  142  on the glass substrate  12 . 
         [0020]    A sample of glass substrate  12  was pretreated and then was placed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  of the vacuum sputtering coating machine  100 . The temperature in the sputtering coating chamber  20  was set at 100° C. . Oxygen (O 2 ) was used as the reaction gas and fed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of 55 sccm. The first targets  22  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  were evaporated at a power 8 kW. A bias voltage was applied to the glass substrate  12  at −50 volts for 15 minutes to deposit a fist bond enhancing layer  142  on the glass substrate  12 . In this exemplary embodiment, the first targets  22  were made of Silicon.
       2. Depositing a second bond enhancing layer  144  on the first bond enhancing layer  142 .       
 
         [0022]    The temperature in the sputtering coating chamber  20  was set at 100° C. The second targets  22  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  were evaporated at a power 10 kW. A bias voltage was applied to the glass substrate  12  at −50 volts for 15 minutes to deposit a second bond enhancing layer  144  on the fist bond enhancing layer  142 . In this exemplary embodiment, the second targets  22  were made of Aluminum.
       3. Depositing the boron carbide layer  16  on the second bond enhancing layer  144 .       
 
         [0024]    The temperature in the sputtering coating chamber  20  was set at 100° C. Acetylene was fed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of 60 sccm. The third targets  24  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  were evaporated at a power 1 kW. A bias voltage was applied to the glass substrate  12  at −50 volts for 10 minutes to deposit a boron carbide layer  16  onto the glass substrate  12 . 
       Example  2   
       [0025]    Unlike example 1, in the example 2, during the deposition of the boron carbide layer  16  on the second bond enhancing layer  144 , the temperature in the sputtering coating chamber  20  was set at 220° C. Acetylene was fed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of 80 sccm. The third targets  24  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  were evaporated at a power 10 kW. A bias voltage was applied to the glass substrate  12  at −150 volts for 10 minutes, to deposit a boron carbide layer on the glass substrate  12 . Except for the above difference, the remaining experimental conditions for example 2 were same as for example 1. 
       Example 3 
       [0026]    Unlike example 1, in example 2, during the deposition of the boron carbide layer  16  on the second bond enhancing layer  144 , the temperature in the sputtering coating chamber  20  was set at 420° C. Acetylene was fed into the sputtering coating chamber  20  at a flow rate of 125 sccm. The third targets  24  in the sputtering coating chamber  20  were evaporated at a power 20 kW. A bias voltage was applied to the glass substrate  12  at −300 volts for 60 minutes, to deposit a boron carbide layer on the glass substrate  12 . Except for the above difference(s), the remaining experimental conditions for example 3 were same as for example 1. 
       Example Results 
       [0027]    The coated glass article  10  manufactured as a result of examples 1, 2 and 3 had high-temperature oxidation and abrasion tests performed on them. 
         [0028]    High-temperature oxidation test: the coated glass articles  10  were put into a tube furnace. The temperature inside the tube furnace was raised by 5° C. per minute until 300° C. was reached. Then, the temperature inside the tube furnace was maintained at 300° C. for 10 hours. The coated glass articles  10  were removed from the tube furnace and showed no peeling or oxidation. Thus, the coated glass articles  10  manufactured by above method had good oxidation resistance. 
         [0029]    Abrasion test: the coated glass articles  10  were tested by a linear abrader with a force of 1 kg, the stroke length was 1.5 inch, the frequency was 25 times per minute. The coated glass article  10  produced in examples 1, 2 and 3 showed no scratches or abrasions after being worn  130  times for 5.2 minutes. Thus, the coated glass articles  10  manufactured by the above method(s) had a good corrosion resistance. 
         [0030]    According to the above description, the boron carbide layer  16  has a high hardness and oxidation resistance. The boron carbide layer  16  used in coating the bond enhancing layer  14  can protect the bond enhancing layer  14  from abrasions and scratches. Thus, polythene film is not necessary for protecting the bond enhancing layer  14 . 
         [0031]    It is to be understood, however, that even through numerous characteristics and advantages of the exemplary disclosure have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the system and function of the disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in the matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.