The present disclosure relates generally to plastic (sheet) laminates, and more specifically to a plastic and glass laminate with a filling therebetween.
Glass laminated products have contributed to society for almost a century. Beyond the well known, every day automotive safety glass used in windshields, glass laminates are used in most forms of the transportation industry. They are utilized as windows for trains, airplanes, ships, and nearly every other mode of transportation. Safety glass is characterized by high impact and penetration resistance and does not scatter glass shards and debris when shattered. Glass laminates find widespread use in architectural applications, as well.
A glass laminate typically consists of a sandwich of two glass sheets or panels bonded together with an interlayer of a polymeric film or sheet which is placed between the two glass sheets. One or both of the glass sheets may be replaced with optically clear rigid polymeric sheets such as, for example, sheets of polycarbonate materials. Glass laminates have further evolved to include multiple layers of glass and/or polymeric sheets bonded together with interlayers of polymeric films or sheets.
Although the glass-plastic laminate has the advantage of a reduced weight compared to a glass-glass laminate, the glass-plastic laminate can be stressed during thermal cycles and as a result has issues such as curvature and/of cracking over time. Hence there is a continual need for glass-plastic laminates with reduced stress built-up during thermal cycles and enhanced resistance to cracking.