Automotive safety Glass

WINDSHIELD

• HISTORY

The term windshield is used generally throughout North America. The term windscreen is the usual term in the British Isles and Australasia for all vehicles. In the US windscreen refers to the mesh or foam placed over a microphone to minimize wind noise, while a windshield refers to the front window of a car. In the UK, the terms are reversed, although generally, the foam screen is referred to as a microphone shield, and not a windshield.

Sports or racing cars would sometimes have aero screens, which were small semi-circular or rectangular windshields. These were often mounted in pairs behind a fold able flat windshield.^[3] Aero screens are usually less than 20 cm (8 in) in height. They are known as aero screens because they only deflect the wind. The twin aero screen setup often called Brook lands was popular among older sports and modern cars in vintage style.

A wiperless windshield is a windshield that uses a mechanism other than wipers to remove snow and rain from the windshield. The concept car acura tl features a wipeless windshield using a series of jet nozzle in the cowl to blow pressure onto the windshield. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield#Windshield_replacement  

INVENTOR

Laminated glass was invented in 1903 by the French chemist Édouard Bénédictus (1878-1930), inspired by a laboratory accident.Production of Triplex glass was slow and painstaking, making it expensive. It was not immediately widely adopted by automobile manufacturers, but laminated glass was widely used in the eyepieces of gas masks during World War I. In 1912, the process was licensed to The English Triplex Safety Glass Company. Subsequently, in the United States, both Libbey Owens-Ford and Du Pont de Nemours with Pittsburg Plate Glass produced Triplex.

USAGE

Windshields protect the vehicle's occupants from wind and flying debris such as dust, insects, and rocks, and provide an aerodynamically formed window towards the front. UV coating may be applied to screen out harmful ultraviolet radiation. However, this is usually unnecessary since most auto windshields are made from Laminated glass. The majority of UV-B is absorbed by the glass itself, and any remaining UV-B together with most of the UV-A is absorbed by the PVB bonding layer.^[1]

On motorbikes their main function is to shield the rider from wind, though not as completely as in a car, whereas on sports and racing motorcycles the main function is reducing drag when the rider assumes the optimal aerodynamic configuration with his or her body in unison with the machine, and does not shield the rider from wind when sitting upright.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield#Windshield_replacement

effects

 Modern automobile and truck windshields are part of the vehicle’s safety restraint system (SRS), which includes air bags and seat belts. The SRS is designed to keep vehicle occupants within the relative safety of the passenger compartment during accidents, head-on collisions and roll-overs. If any of these safety components are damaged or inoperable for any reason, the effectiveness of the entire SRS could be compromised. In order for the windshield to perform its safety function, one needs to properly care for it. Preventive care is the key to maintaining the safety of your vehicle. The following are some tips on maintaining the safety features of your windshield.

http://www.novusglass.com/ask-the-experts/preserving-the-safety-features-of-your-windshield/

composition

Glass is composed of numerous oxides that fuse and react together upon heating to form a glass. These include silica (SiO 2 ), sodium oxide (Na 2 O), and calcium oxide (CaO). Raw materials from which these materials are derived are sand, soda ash (Na 2 CO 3 ), and limestone (CaCO 3 ). Soda ash acts as a flux; in other words, it lowers the melting point of the batch composition. Lime is added to the batch in order to improve the hardness and chemical durability of the glass. Glass used for windshields also usually contains several other oxides: potassium oxide (K 2 O derived from potash), magnesium oxide (MgO), and aluminum oxide (AI 2 O 3 derived from feldspar).

Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Automobile-Windshield.html#ixzz4K1VGdQAt