Architectural Glass and Design

Architectural glass is the usage of glass as the building material. Glass is also referred to as silicate glasses because it is mainly made up of silica and other side minerals like soda and lime. Mixing the mineral, smelt it, shape it according to needs, cooling and finally a glass is formed.

Introduction

Glass is a very popular in many building and home design. This is because of the optical transparency that a glass posses and also flexibility to shape into any form. Glass are differentiated to many types for its versatility. Porcelain and also polymer thermoplastic have many similarities with glass and often become the alternative choices. Glass product is usually heavier than a polymer glass(Acrylic Glass, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polycarbonate) so the polymer glass act as a lighter alternative glass.

Applications

Float Glass or Annealed glass is the most used type of glass in the current market. This was due to the fact that float glass is the most basic form of many type glasses. The reason for this is because it has a flatness surface, uniform thickness and also better optical clarity than other glasses. It can also be cut and modify after produce and tend to break in a big piece if force is applied.

Toughened Glass or more commonly known as Tempered Glass is one of the float glass but with extra impact resistant and also tend to shatter into smaller pieces when sufficient strength is applied. It is produced by using a float glass undergo a thermal tempering process which calls quenching. This process required heating the float glass up to 600°C and rapidly cool it down resulting in higher compressive stresses in the surface balanced by tensile stresses or in another word stronger. The tempered glass is extremely useful because of its safety and common house and office interior and panel tend to implement this type of glasses because of this characteristic.

Laminate Glass is also a type of safety glass similar to tempered glass. But unlike tempered glass when it shatters it tends to hold together in one piece. This is thanks to the sandwiched layer of the glass which provide structural integrity that keeps the shattered piece together. The sandwiched layer is usually made up of plastic like polyvinyl butyral(PVB), ethylene-vinyl acetate(EVA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to act as a adhesion to bine two pieces of glass together or on the glass. The glass type used for laminated glass can be a float glass or tempered glass as this would greatly increase its versatility without jeopardizing budget. The usual drawback of this type of glass is that it usually thicker than normal glass but offer more UV protection and sound insulation. Laminate glass is commonly found as a safety glass for a windshield of a car as this provides great protection in case of car accident. The protection includes injured by glass debris and also reduce the chance of passenger went through a windshield or an incoming object pass through a windshield. Other applications include balconies, external window, and many other outdoor usages such as decoration and furniture countertop.

Advantages

Architectural glass usually have the following advantage:



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