Architectural glass
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Architectural glass has been used in buildings since the 11th
century. Glass is typically used in buildings as a transparent
glazing material for windows in the building envelope. Glass is also
used in glazed internal partitions and as an architectural feature.
Glass in buildings is often of a safety type, including toughened
and laminated glasses.
Before the invention of the float glass method of manufacture, flat
glass panels were generally made via the cylinder, sheet or rolled
plate processes. Optical distortions could be reduced at substantial
cost by grinding the glass to produce polished plate glass.
In this manufacturing process glass is blown into a cylindrical iron
mould. The ends are cut off and a cut is made down the side of the
cylinder. The cut cylinder is then placed in an oven where the
cylinder unrolls into a flat glass sheet. William J. Blenko used
this method in the early 1900s to make stained glass. These
imperfect panes have led to the misconception that glass is actually
a high-viscosity liquid at room temperature, which is not the case. |
Sheet glassSheet glass (sometimes called window glass or drawn glass) was made
by dipping a leader into a vat of molten glass then pulling that
leader straight up while a film of glass hardened just out of the
vat. This film or ribbon was pulled up continuously held by tractors
on both edges while it cooled. After 12 meters or so it was cut off
the vertical ribbon and tipped down to be further cut. This glass is
clear but has thickness variations due to small temperature changes
just out of the vat as it was hardening. These variations cause
lines of slight distortions. You may still see this glass in older
houses. Float glass replaced this process.Rolled plate glassThe glass is taken from the furnace in large iron ladles, which are
carried upon slings running on overhead rails; from the ladle the
glass is thrown upon the cast-iron bed of a rolling-table; and is
rolled into sheet by an iron roller, the process being similar to
that employed in making plate-glass, but on a smaller scale. The
sheet thus rolled is roughly trimmed while hot and soft, so as to
remove those portions of glass which have been spoilt by immediate
contact with the ladle, and the sheet, still soft, is pushed into
the open mouth of an annealing tunnel or lehr, down which it is
carried by a system of rollers.Polished plate glassThe plate glass process starts with sheet or rolled plate glass.
This glass is dimensionally inaccurate and often created visual
distortions. These rough panes were ground flat then polished clear.
This was a fairly expensive process.
Before the float process, mirrors were plate glass as sheet glass
had visual distortions that were akin to those seen in amusement
park or fun-fair mirrors.Float (annealed) glass90% of the world's flat glass is produced by the float glass process
invented in the 1950s by Sir Alastair Pilkington of Pilkington
Glass, in which molten glass is poured onto one end of a molten tin
bath. The glass floats on the tin, and levels out as it spreads
along the bath, giving a smooth face to both sides. The glass cools
and slowly solidifies as it travels over the molten tin and leaves
the tin bath in a continuous ribbon. The glass is then annealed by
cooling in a temperature controlled oven called a "lehr". The
finished product has near-perfect parallel surfaces.
A very small amount of the tin is imbedded in the glass on the side
it touched. The tin side is easier to make into a mirror. This
"feature" quickened the switch from plate to float glass. The tin
side of glass is also softer and easier to scratch.
Glass is produced in standard metric thicknesses of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
8, 10, 12, 15, 19 and 22 mm. Molten glass floating on tin in a
nitrogen/hydrogen atmosphere will spread out to a thickness of about
6 mm and stop due to surface tension. Thinner glass is made by
stretching the glass while it floats on the tin and cools.
Similarly, thicker glass is pushed back and not permitted to expand
as it cools on the tin.
Annealed glass is considered a hazard in architectural applications
as it breaks in large, jagged shards that can cause serious injury.
Building codes across the world restrict the use of annealed glass
in areas where there is a high risk of breakage and injury, for
example in bathrooms, in door panels, fire exits and at low heights
in schools.
The elaborate patterns found on figure rolled glass are produced by
in a similar fashion to the rolled plate glass process except that
the plate is cast between two moving rollers. The pattern is
impressed upon the sheet by a printing roller which is brought down
upon the glass as it leaves the main rolls while still soft. This
glass shows a pattern in high relief. The glass is then annealed in
a lehr.
The glass used for this purpose is typically whiter in colour than
the clear glasses used for other applications.
This glass can be laminated or toughened depending on the depth of
the pattern to produce a safety glass.
Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that holds together when
shattered. In the event of breakage, it is held in place by an
interlayer, typically of PVB, between its two or more layers of
glass. The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when
broken, and its high strength prevents the glass from breaking up
into large sharp pieces. This produces a characteristic "spider web"
cracking pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce
the glass.
Laminated glass is normally used when there is a possibility of
human impact or where the glass could fall if shattered. Shopfront
glazing and windshields are typically laminated glasses. The PVB
interlayer also gives the glass a much higher sound insulation
rating, due to the damping effect, and also blocks 99% of
transmitted UV light. Using toughened glass on windshields would be
a problem when a small stone hits the windshield at speed, if it
were toughened and the stone hit with enough force the whole
windshield would shatter into the small squares making visibility
difficult and it would also be likely that the wind would blow the
small squares into the driver and passengers.
Laminated glass was invented in 1903 by the French chemist Edouard
Benedictus, inspired by a laboratory accident. A glass flask had
become coated with the plastic cellulose nitrate and when dropped
shattered but did not break into pieces. Benedictus fabricated a
glass-plastic composite to reduce injuries in car accidents.
However, it was not immediately adopted by automobile manufacturers,
and the first widespread use of laminated glass was in the eyepieces
of gas masks during World War I.
Today, laminated glass is produced by bonding two or more layers of
ordinary annealed glass together with a plastic interlayer, usually
polyvinyl butyral (PVB). The PVB is sandwiched by the glass which is
passed through rollers to expel any air pockets and form the initial
bond then heated to around 70 °C in a pressurized oil bath. The tint
at the top of some car windshields is in the PVB.
A typical laminated makeup would be 3 mm glass / 0.38 mm interlayer
/ 3 mm glass. This gives a final product that would be referred to
as 6.38 laminated glass.
Multiple laminates and thicker glass increases the strength.
Bulletproof glass is often made of several float glass, toughened
glass and Perspex panels, and can be as thick as 100 mm. A similar
glass is often used in airliners on the front windows, often three
sheets of 6 mm toughened glass with thick PVB between them |
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