US Patent 10286631 Bent, veneer-encapsulated heat-treated safety glass panels and methods of manufacture

A laminated, bent, safety glass panel (30) for architectural or interior uses and a method of manufacturing such panels. The panel comprises a single heat-treated bent glass sheet, fully-tempered or heat-strengthened, forming a substrate (32) encapsulated by at least one thin, chemically-strengthened, glass veneer sheet (38). The veneer sheet (38), an alkali-aluminosilicate or other alkali-containing glass recipe strengthened by ion-exchange treatment, is cold-bent over a polymer interlayer (40) and permanently laminated to form a protective barrier on the heat-treated glass that dampens the explosive release of its internal residual stresses in the event of breakage thereby preventing particles dislodging and subsequent disintegration. The vulnerable perimeter (37) and perforation (45) edges of the veneer sheet (38) are equal in size or inset to the edges of the heat-treated substrate (32) with its deeper robust compressive stresses. Veneers may be laminated to both major substrate surfaces.