Glass is an extremely versatile material. The combination of its almost unique properties makes it suitable for different fields of application.
Today we will try to analyze perhaps the most evident quality of this material: the transparency, which is linked to a key concept such as antireflection.
The reflection of light, whether natural or artificial, is a fundamental parameter for many applications that aim to improve the visual comfort, ensuring optimal transparency of each glass surface.
What is anti-reflective glass? And how are they made?
Anti-reflective glass is defined as glass that reduces unwanted reflection of light and glare on the surface, improving transparency and promoting clear, natural vision.
But how is such visual comfort achieved? By means of a process of coating, that is, coating the surface of the float glass sheet with a very thin layer of mineral salts and metal oxides. This creates a film that significantly reduces the reflection of light (physical phenomenon whereby a light wave changes direction when it hits a surface).
What are the application fields?
The anti-reflective glass not only improves the brightness of the rooms, but also offers better contrast definition, where reflections can represent a limit.
This property guarantees the material a wide variety of uses, among which we find:
- shop windows. Offering passers-by or customers a clear and attractive view of the products on display or of the internal spaces is strategic in the case of clothing and furniture shops, jewelery shops and showrooms, but also restaurants and hotels. From this perspective, anti-reflective glass ensures maximum transparency and very low levels of reflection and reverberation.
- Museum showcases. The anti-reflection eliminates the distances between the visitor and the artefact/ work of art, which can be admired in its original color, guaranteeing a fascinating continuity between observer and observed, without neglecting a fundamental element for the latter: its safety.
- Glass for paintings and frames. The same considerations reported for the previous category apply. Anti-reflection allows you to maintain the integrity of the image, painting or photograph contained in the frame, protecting it from external agents.
- Digital signage. Billboards, displays and devices for indoors and outdoors (hospitals, stations, roads and motorways, shops) make use of anti-reflection properties, combined with EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) shielding to facilitate optimal reading of the information transmitted.
- Windows and facades of buildings. Aesthetics and functionality are the two dominant principles of modern architectural projects and find concreteness in the charm of windows for a clear but comfortable view, both inside and outside.
- Precision electronics. We can list in this category both the screens of electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, televisions and computers) as well as coated solar panels, which maximize the absorption of light without losses due to reflections.
- Optical instrumentation. From spectacle lenses to telescopes and microscopes, to lenses and photographic filters; anti-reflective glass is a guarantee of clarity and quality, essential properties for professionals and customers in these sectors.
The advanced properties of glass, certified by cutting-edge production methods, adapt to a variety of contexts, bringing style and comfort to environments and products.
Sources: sg-lifeupgrade.it, guardianglass.com, saint-gobain-glass.it
