Physico-chemical surface treatmentIn addition to its unequalled transparency, glass offers remarkable surface properties in terms of flatness, smoothness and relatively good chemical durability. The physics and chemistry of glass surfaces are extremely diversified. |  |
The main subjects regularly encountered include:
- Chemical durability of soda-lime glass, with particular emphasis on production of extra-thin glass for opto-electronic applications.
- Deposition of metal coatings for mirror glass.
- Interactions between the glass surface and coatings for various applications (architectural, automotive and opto-electronic).
- Modifying the glass surface to suit specific applications (LCD or plasma displays, etc.)
- Chemical roughening of the glass surface for anti-reflection applications
- Development of organic paints, inks and varnishes, and of methods for applying them (for the automotive industry and architectural decoration).
The department has laboratories equipped for carrying out the majority of experiments in conventional chemistry, and has high-performance equipment for microscopy, rugosimetry (roughness measurement), viscosimetry and granulometry (particle size determination). Some of the equipment is located in clean rooms. The department also has artificial aging equipment used for testing the quality of mirrors (exposure to humid and saline fogs, climate-controlled chambers, Cass test).
Most of the techniques used for deposition and polymerisation of organic coating (in silk screen printing, inking, curtain machine, roller coating, spray, electrostatic powder) are grouped together in a special section.
The areas of expertise required in this field are:
- Mineral chemistry
- Organic chemistry (polymers, varnishes, etc.)
- Physics and chemistry of surfaces
- Materials science