We have seen various kinds of glass products in our everyday life haven’t we ? From small and brittle glass test tubes that are used in laboratories to huge and hard glass buildings . Have you ever wondered whether the glass used for each product will be the same ? Eager to know huh ? But for your amazement let’s unveil the various types of glass for the manufacturing of beautiful unique glass products.
1. Toughened Glass
Toughened glass or sometimes it is referred as tempered glass is another category of safety glass and this glass undergoes thermal tempering process to gain its characteristics. This one is done through heating the glass to around 620°C (1148°F), and then quickly cooling it.                          Â
As for the features of toughened glass one can distinguish the separating feature of its breakage. When it breaks, it disintegrates into tiny, dull-wristed pieces as opposed to the pointed pieces, which makes it hard for someone to get cut by the screen. This safety characteristic coupled with increase in its strength makes the toughened glass as an ideal material in many fields where strength and safety are weighing factors like in automobiles’ windows, glass façade for architecture, shower doors and many more.
2. Laminated Glass
Laminated glass can also be made using other types of glass (such as float, wired, or toughened), where they keep their original breaking attributes. Safety glass, whether used for construction or as car windshields, is made of two or more layers of glass with a plastic layer in between that may be PVB or EVA. That is done through application of heat and pressure by which the layers get bonded up, becoming a single whole item.
Compared to the normal glass, which breaks into sharp and lethal pieces when struck, laminated glass tends to remain in one piece due to the adhesiveness of the layer in-between. As the name suggests, laminated glass consists of layers of ordinary glass bonded by a transparent, flexible material. Think of it as a sandwich made up of two or more sheets of glass. The key purpose of laminated glass is to improve safety and security since it is very difficult to break.
3. Tinted Glass
Tinted glass is not electronically activated or motorised rather it is identified as coloured glass. To get coloured glass, the normal glass mix is prepared, to which a particular type of ion is added and it does not alter any other properties of the glass. For instance, iron oxide provides green and sulphur, the other component, provides blue for the shades.
Tinted glasses are therefore, just a sunglasses or eyeglasses lens version that is coloured in a particular manner. They are created by coating a UV-blocking lens with different tints: blue, green, brown, yellow etc. Tinted lenses are fashionable accessories and serve to protect the eyes from dangerous UV radiation, and increase contrast.
4. Flat Glass
Flat glass or sheet glass, is made in such a way that the glass goes through a series of rollers in order to give it a nearly flat surface. But while the rollers do transfer the ink the sheets that are produced are not entirely free from distortion. All forms of sheet glass can be cut with a glass cutter and there is no need for any other additional tool. It is more often than not sold in various common sizes. Since float glass is comparatively cheaper and free of distortion; sheet glass is utilised in applications such as glazing greenhouses and the likes where the distortion is not a concern akin to house windows etc.
5. Annealed Glass
Annealed glass is mainly a very, very smooth and non-distorted glass that is employed to produce other types of glass products like laminated glass, heat toughened and others. Floating glass is environmentally green to a natural greenish colour, has a low light transmission of approximately 87% and hence users are able to have an explicit vision of what is on the other side unlike in sheet glass.
Float glass derives its trademark name from the method of producing it where molten glass is rolled over a surface of molten tin hence, floating. Float glass which is also called soda-lime glass, mainly consists of sodium silicate and calcium silicate. The term float is performed by the methods used in the creation of this glass where the molten glass is floated onto a bed of molten tin. This gives us a flat, clear, non-distorting glass, they say.
6. Shatterproof Glass
Shatterproof glass is exactly what the term suggests and refers to a type of glass that is fairly insensitive to shattering. In other words, it does not shatter into sharp fragments in the process considered as destruction.
To manufacture the shatterproof glass, a plastic polyvinyl butyral resin is incorporated to the glass so that when it breaks, it does not produce sharp pieces. It is mostly applied in windows, flooring, and in the roof particularly in the skylights. Unbreakable glass is that glass, or material which substitutes it, which does not seem to be that fragile in general; However the term unbreakable does not give full information that the material will not break at all.
7. Energy Efficient Glass
Energy efficient glazing is a term used to refer to the double glazing or the triple glazing that is used in the modern day windows of homes. Energy efficient glazing unlike the single glazing or the old fashioned double glazing has features such as low-emissivity coated glass to avoid excessive loss of heat through the windows. It is a sort of glass made by the following float glass with a thin coat of a particular type on one surface. This coating enables the transmission of light in one form in particular, which is solar energy, while opposing the flow of heat in the opposite way.
8. Patterned Glass
Patterned glass is flat glass generally processed by rolling the glass on one particular side during fabrication. It comes in many colours and styles: each comes in a tint or a pattern with a distortion number ranging from 1 to 5; 1 meaning very little distortion and 5 meaning high diffusion. Patterned glass is used for aesthetic appearance and maybe for privacy, depending on the pattern put on it. Â
Patterned glass is a category of artistic glass that is created with one or both sides having imprinting or moulded designs on the surface. This makes it become translucent and to have the effect of diffusing the light. It is also referred to as textured glass because of its characteristics that qualify its use in increasing the aesthetic worth as well as privacy of a home.
9. Chromatic Glass
Applicable to the ICU and the meeting room where chromatic glass will regulate the transparent work productivity to shield the interior from the natural light. This type of glass may be electrochromic because it has electric lamination, thermo-chromatic that has heat sensitive lamination and photochromic that has light sensitive lamination. Chromatic glass is used every time interiors are to be shielded from the direct rays of the sun. This is the type of glass used in Intensive Care Units, meeting rooms, and airports to ensure building users do not expose themselves to glare. Electrochromic glass can be manufactured through electric lamination thus chromatic glass production.
10. Wired Glass
Wired glass has a wire mesh right in the centre of the glass framework. The role of the wire is to bind the two pieces of glass if accidentally cracked or broken, but this wire is not an inhibitive measure on formation of sharp edges when broken. Of course, there is a clear wired option and hazy wired glass that is more suitable for industrial zones or, for example, garages. Wired glass is made from a normal annealed glass which has a wire mesh running through it and is also modified through a special toughening process. This works to ensure the glass panel remains fitted in case there is a break or perhaps a crack.
11. Acoustic Glass
Acoustic glass, is also referred to as soundproof glass, or noise reduction glass is specialist glass installed in noise reduction windows that can reduce the amount of noise that is transmitted through the glass and a window (or door). Acoustic glass is a sandwich of two or more sheets of glass, heat or pressure bonded together with one or more acoustic polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayers which serve as a noise dampener, weakening the energy of the sound waves as they travel through the glass.Acoustic glasses are commonly used in offices and other areas where sound has been prohibited.
12. Insulated Glass
As the name suggests Insulated glass units (IGUs) prevent heat loss through your glass doors and windows. The units consist of two panes of glass separated by an inert gas. The insulating layer provided by the gas between the window panes diffuses heat transfer. Most modern homes and buildings use insulated glass. Insulated glass is used in most modern homes and buildings for windows, glass doors, and/or glass walls. These insulation capabilities are a key driver of glass market growth worldwide.
