Flexible hardcoats and substrates coated therewith

A method for providing a hardcoat on a substrate comprising:

• (a) providing a dual curable organosilane possessing a UV curable group, a thermally curable silane group, and a bridging group having at least two carbon atoms connecting the UV curable group and the thermally curable silane group.
• (b) carrying out acid hydrolysis of the dual curable organosilane in the presence of water and a solvent to convert the silane group to a corresponding silanol group to provide an organosilanol;
• (c) condensing no more than a portion of the silanol groups of step (b);
• (d) combining a photoinitiator and a thermal curing catalyst with the organosilanol resulting from the condensing step (c) to provide a fluid coating mixture.
• (e) applying the fluid coating mixture to a substrate;
• (f) drying the coating mixture;
• (g) subjecting the dried coating mixture to UV radiation to crosslink the UV curable groups of the organosilanol to provide a hardcoat having sufficient flexibility to permit forming of the coated substrate without damage to the hardcoat;
• and
• (h) heating the coated substrate of step to a temperature sufficient to bring about condensation of uncondensed silanol groups to provide a fully cured hardcoat.