Screen-printed ceramic enamelled glass
New automated screen printing technology for glass
New ceramic screen-printing technologies are increasingly removing more and more limits when it comes to using glass as a medium for artwork or decals. Glas Expert uses high-end automated machinary and screens that have various texture mesh resolutions to precisely print images onto the glass surface.
An impressive variety of colours
Ceramic screen-printing is available in a wide range of standard colours, generally based on the RAL colour palette. In addition to these RAL variants, glass can also be screen-printed with other types of colours, such as metallic ceramic enamels or variants with electrical conductivity properties. Another ceramic enamel, widely used in architectural glass and commonly known as ‘Side One’, is screen-printed onto the glass face (exposed to the exterior in the case of thermo-insulating glass). Specially produced with greater resilience against UV radiation and atmospheric pollutants, this particular ceramic enamel has greatly improved properties compared to regular applications.
Through successive exposures and using appropriate techniques, one, two or three colours can be applied to the glass surface.
The enamel permanently fuses with the glass at 700 ° C
After the the glass has been screen-printed with ceramic enamel, it is heated to 150 ° C as an intermediate step that provides primary colour consolidation. During the tempering process, at temperatures between 600 – 650 ° C, the enamel fuses with the glass and the colours are permanently embedded. The colours will not fade or discolour and remain resistant to solvent effects, abrasion and temperatures up to 200 ° C.
