Abstract: As the cost of energy has increased, the use of solar coatings on automotive and architectural glazing has enjoyed massive growth. Most solar coatings have metallic silver layers that are highly reflective in the infrared. The silver is deposited over a “wetting” layer which must have a certain level of roughness to prevent agglomeration of the silver and to ensure good adhesion. However, a very smooth wetting layer is beneficial in minimizing haze and improving solar performance. These competing factors make it difficult to deposit a silver layer that promotes both high stability and good adhesion as well as excellent optical and solar properties. The disclosure uses an AgAl/Ag bilayer, which transitions in the composition from silver-aluminum to silver. The bilayer has excellent stability and does not require a rough substrate, thus enabling the use of a smooth high-aluminum-content ZnAlOx wetting layer in providing a coating with superior stability, adhesion, optical, and solar characteristics.

Abstract: Due to the increased glazed area of modern vehicles, especially the large panoramic glass roofs, we have seen a substantial growth in the use solar control glass and coatings. The solar glass compositions and coatings are expensive to manufacture. While solar coatings are more efficient than compositions, they typically cannot be used on monolithic glazing as they are not durable. They must be applied to one of the surfaces on the inside of a laminate. Most of these products also introduce an undesirable color shift. The invention provides a coating that can be used on glass to produce a laminated or monolithic glazing with a neutral gray solar control coating which also has anti-reflective properties and low emissivity.