When you think about the perfect material for a car windshield, you’d probably want something incredibly strong, scratch-proof, and as clear as glass. On paper, transparent aluminum sounds like it checks all those boxes. It’s a cutting-edge material that’s way tougher than glass, so it seems like a no-brainer for making cars safer. But even with its incredible strength, transparent aluminum has some major drawbacks that make it a pretty bad idea for your car’s windshield.
Let us find out the reasons that make the use of transparent aluminum in car windows a bad idea.
Contents
What Makes Transparent Aluminum So “Transparent”?
First off, let’s clear something up: transparent aluminum isn’t really a metal that you can see through. The proper name for it is aluminum oxynitride, or ALON. Think of it as an advanced type of ceramic that has the best qualities of both a super-tough material and a crystal-clear window. It’s incredibly light and can stand up to extreme conditions, making it perfect for things like military armor and high-tech cameras. It’s way stronger and more scratch-resistant than the glass used in your car today, which makes it seem like a perfect fit for a windshield.
Transparent Aluminum In Car Windshields- The Drawbacks
Usage of simple glass in the car windshields was never a good idea. The same is the case with transparent aluminum as well. The reason behind it is the “cracking” of glass with a simple push. That is why the usage of special windshield glass came into the picture. Using aluminum in car windshields will create the same dilemmas again. The windshield glass used in this day and age is coated with a special covering. The laminated covering on the windshield glass makes it preeminent in all ways.
Let us discuss the drawbacks of using aluminum in car windows.
Stiffness of the material
Transparent aluminum is not that hard when compared to today’s windshield glass. It carries the same properties a normal window glass used in the old days. The rigidity of the material is the chief issue that impressed the manufacturers to drop the idea of using transparent aluminum in car windshields straight away.
The transparent aluminum window glass cracks easily when the airbags come into play during an accident. The hardness of the transparent aluminum is one of the main problems that came into the spotlight.
Highly expensive
Transparent aluminum is much more costly than regular glass or special windshield glass. Using transparent aluminum for making window windshields will not be a good idea, no matter what. Due to this issue, the windshields cost much more than the car itself. This is the reason manufacturers dropped the plan of using transparent aluminum in their vehicles.
Breaking instead of shattering
Regular glass never shatters, and this is the same issue with transparent aluminum as well. It just breaks into large pieces of glass that can harm people in an accident. Today’s windshield glass is a little different from that of regular glass.
These days, manufacturers utilize special windshield glass that completely shatters after an accident. Expert’s maintenance tips recommend the usage of special windshield glass above transparent aluminum in car windshields to stay away from dilemmas.
Endnote
These were the drawbacks of using transparent aluminum in car windshields. Make sure to consider these tips for the next time you are going for car window replacement.
