Decoration of S2 & S3 on Automotive Glass

Nick Westra

This paper will deal with the decoration of laminated Automotive (AM) glass on side 2 (S2). This type of glass is mostly used as a windshield, as laminated glass is a legal requirement, for windshields
in most parts of the world. We however also see laminated glass nowadays, on the high end of the market, being used in other parts of the car. In order to be clear on the terminology it is important to understand certain "basics". The first one is that the sides of the two glass sheets, used in a laminated glass, are counted from the outside of the vehicle to the inside, as 1,2,3 and 4 AM glass is nearly always decorated with a so-called black obscuration band. This obscuration band, is printed
with a glass enamel, to protect the polyurethane glue from wearing under the influence of ultra violet light (UV). On conventional laminated glass, these enamels are printed on S4 prior to the glass being bent. In the firing and bending process the glass enamel fuses to the glass surface creating an extremely dense, and chemical as well as mechanical resistant layer. We will often mention "coated glass" in this paper. There are many types of coated glass, and whenever coatings are mention in this paper, we are referring to reflective coatings.

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