Soda-Lime Glass for Custom Glass Components

High Visible-Light Transmission

Features:

Clear soda-lime float glass provides published visible-light transmission above:

89%

Its optical clarity makes it suitable for transparent interfaces where the underlying display, indicator or illuminated component must remain visible.

Applications: Touch panels, industrial displays, appliance interfaces and transparent protective windows.

Excellent Strengthening Compatibility

Features:

Soda-lime glass responds well to both:

• Physical tempering
• Chemical ion-exchange strengthening

This allows the strengthening route to be selected largely around finished glass thickness and mechanical requirements.

Applications: Thin cover glass, HMI panels, kiosks, appliances and protective glazing.

Wide Thickness Range

Features:

Standard soda-lime float glass is produced from approximately:

0.55–25 mm thick

This range supports thin display glass through heavier protective and architectural panels.

Strength After Tempering

Features:

Published mechanical-strength ranges include:

• Annealed soda-lime glass: 30–70 MPa
• Tempered soda-lime glass: 120–200 MPa
• Tempered glass: approximately 4–5× stronger than annealed glass

Applications: Appliance panels, kiosks, vehicle interfaces, lighting covers and other exposed glass components.

Smooth Float-Glass Surfaces

Features:

The float process produces smooth, fire-polished surfaces on both sides of the sheet and provides consistent flat-glass thickness for downstream cutting, CNC machining and display-cover fabrication.

Applications: Cover glass, screen-printed glass, coated glass and precision flat-glass components.

Deep-Processing Compatibility

Features:

Soda-lime glass can be combined with:

• CNC cutting and edging
• Hole drilling
• Slot grooving
• Step-glass processing
• Screen printing
• AG anti-glare treatment
• AR anti-reflection coating
• AF anti-fingerprint coating
• ITO conductive coating

Applications: Finished HMI, touch, appliance and smart-interface glass.

Annealed Soda-Lime Glass

Standard float glass before strengthening.

Published characteristics:

• Mechanical strength: approximately 30–70 MPa
• Visible-light transmission: >89%
• Suitable for cutting, machining and subsequent processing
• Available across the broadest thickness range

Annealed glass is used where additional strengthening is unnecessary or where further fabrication must still be completed.

Physically Tempered Soda-Lime Glass

Thermal tempering heats the glass and then rapidly cools the surfaces to create residual surface compression.

Published process range and performance:

• Heating temperature: approximately 620–680°C
• Minimum glass thickness: approximately 3 mm
• Strength: approximately 4–5× annealed glass
• Published mechanical strength: 120–200 MPa
• Small-fragment break behavior

All cutting, drilling and other geometry-defining processes must be completed before thermal tempering.

Chemically Strengthened Soda-Lime Glass

Chemical strengthening uses potassium/sodium ion exchange to create a compressed surface layer without the same quenching limitations as thermal tempering.

Published processing capability:

• Salt-bath temperature: approximately 400°C
• Surface compression: >450 MPa
• Depth of layer: >8 μm
• Typical treatment time: 4–8 hours
• Suitable for glass thinner than 3 mm

This route is particularly useful for thin cover glass where physical tempering is impractical.

CNC Precision Cutting & Edging

Available mechanical processing includes:

• CNC cutting
• External profiling
• Edge grinding
• Custom edge geometry
• Step-glass processing

The flat and uniform surface produced by the float process provides a stable starting substrate for downstream machining.

Hole Drilling & Slot Grooving

Custom glass geometry can incorporate:

• Drilled holes
• Slots
• Grooves
• Openings
• Assembly features

These operations must be completed before physical tempering.

Chemical Strengthening

For thin glass, ion-exchange strengthening provides:

• CS >450 MPa
• DOL >8 μm
• Typical processing time: 4–8 hours

This route is suited to cover glass below the practical thickness range for thermal tempering.

Physical Tempering

For glass approximately 3 mm and thicker, thermal tempering can provide:

• Approximately 4–5× annealed strength
• Mechanical strength of approximately 120–200 MPa
• Small-fragment break behavior

No cutting, drilling or geometry modification should be performed after tempering.

High-Precision Screen Printing

Multi-color printing can add:

• Borders
• Logos
• Symbols
• Decorative graphics
• Functional masking areas

AG Anti-Glare Treatment

Surface etching can reduce visible glare on HMI, display and control-panel glass.

AR Anti-Reflection Coating

AR treatment can increase transmission above that of untreated clear float glass.

The source publishes finished transmission above:

95%

for an applicable AR-coated soda-lime configuration.

AF Anti-Fingerprint Coating

Oleophobic surface treatment can be added where easier cleaning and reduced fingerprint adhesion are required.

ITO Conductive Coating

Transparent ITO is available with published sheet resistance of approximately:

3–800 Ω/sq

for conductive and touch-interface applications.