windshield laminate separates

[cwrepair]

I did a repair this afternoon on a combination break and at the end of the repair on the last push the laminate suddenly separates from the glass in the windshield like an explosion of sudden expansion to the size of a grapefruit. As it separated and expanded the resin left in my injector filled it up almost immediatley. Of course, I added more resin to the injector and finished filling in this new expanded air pocket. After curing the repair it looked like my customer had a built in magnifying glass. I used very little heat during this repair as it was filling quite well. I maybe waived my lighter under the repair area for only 4-6 seconds. Just enough to barely warm it up. Has this ever happened to anyone in here before? Its the first time in over six years of doing windshield repairs I've ever seen anything like it. CWREPAIR

[StarQuest]

Can't say I've ever experienced that happening. Was it OEM glass? Just curious!

[cwrepair]

I didn't look to see but it was a repair on a friends car that I will see in the next few days again so I will check it and let you know.

[Dave M]

Never happened to me. First time I've heard of such a thing happening! Can you give us more specifics? Year and make of vehicle, original w/s or OEM, weather conditions?

[sydfloyd44]

It is called Delamination or in our terms, a "Daisy". Simply because the outer edges of the delam will typically form in the shape of the daisy flower rather than just being a large circle. Delamination is the separation of the laminate from the glass. Rather than the resin simply filling the damaged area, it gets forced between the laminate and glass. (or in your case, I think the air took over after you ran out of resin, which is why you had to refill)
Although the causes are numerous, I have found the most common cause is the combination of heat and too much pressure on the bridge. (common with new or training techs) Now, in the event the damage has been there for some time, the contamination that is in the damage could have already weakened the laminate layer. I have seen MANY old, unrepaired chips where there are bubbles in the laminate along the edge of the chip. Same idea.
Again, the possible causes are too numerous to count. I agree with StarQuest on the glass. Being OEM does not mean that this can't happen to it, it just means that the likelihood of OE glass having delamination is much less. The chances of this being caused by a weak or defective windshield is certainly very high.
In the end, with the fact that you have been doing this for 6 years, you probably did nothing wrong. You may have unknowingly contributed to this happening, but it is nothing different that someone with 4 times your experience goes thru.
Keep doing what you are doing as I am sure you are doing it right!!!

[Dave M]

I've seen the daisy effect that you mention on old repairs, but he's saying this was the size of a grapefruit. Would that be caused the same way that you explained?

[cwrepair]

Sydfloyd44, I read your thread and you are right about the delamination. In the begining of my career I had made the mistake of overheating and overpressurizing with the results you mentioned of the daisy like affect from delamination.This time when it happened to me the repair was going really good and I didnt have to use much heat or pressure. I looked at the repair from both inside and outside and it looked perfect with no air left trapped or delamination. As I applied the last push on the injector because I wanted to cure it first while it was still under presure it took off in every direction like an explosion with the resin quickly trailing it. It made a perfect circle in an instant with no flowering like the ones we're used to seeing. Its radius was at least as big as a large grapefruit. I believe what you said about the glass already being weakened somehow or defective is most likely what I was dealing with. Im still going to go and look at it again to see if its OEM glass or not out of curiosity. Thanks CWREPAIR