Optical and mechanical characteristics of clear and solar control laminated glass using zinc sulphide and copper sulphide thin films

Due to their structural integrity, laminated sheet glass is used in safety, security and transportation applications. In the simplest form, it is produced at temperature of 130–140 °C under a pressure of 10–16 kg/cm2, applied to a glass–polyvinyl butyral (PVB)–glass sandwich for 30 min to a few hours. In this work, we report that the presence of a coating of ZnS thin film (40–80 nm) applied by chemical bath deposition on 2-mm-thick sheet glass improves the adhesion strength of laminated glass by about 20%, from 11.08±0.85 to 13.29±1.8 MPa. The optical transmittance of the laminated glass with ZnS thin film in the visible region is about 80%, essentially the same as that of the simple glass–PVB–glass laminate. The addition of a CuS thin film of 100–150 nm in thickness over the ZnS coating confers solar radiation control properties to the glass laminate: visible transmittance of 22% to 40% and very low transmittance, <10%, in the near infrared region, with the adhesion strength maintained at 12–14 MPa, which is above that of glass–PVB–glass laminates. These results may be of interest toward developing architectural glazings for tropical hot climates, and which can withstand windstorms efficiently.