Most innovative solar glass product - EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP, Guardian Industries Corp

This past year, Guardian Industries, Auburn Hills, Mich., introduced EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP, laminated parabolic mirrors for concentrated solar power applications. The mirrors are designed to provide high solar reflectivity, concentrating efficiency and durability. EcoGuard Solar Boost uses Guardian’s highest performing solar glass, EcoGuard Float, and the company’s mirror technology to create a laminated parabolic mirror with a minimum 94.5 percent solar reflectivity at an air mass coefficient of 1.5 (ISO 9050).

Guardian’s precise manufacturing process yields a smooth, accurate mirror. Durability is ensured by a laminated glass assembly similar to a windshield, where the mirror is encapsulated between two layers of glass and held together by a PVB interlayer. A mirrored surface is contained within the laminate on the backside of the forward glass. The thin front glass results in a shorter transmission path and industry benchmark reflectivity performance, according to company officials. EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP has been extensively field tested for durability and validated using numerous accelerated test protocols. The combined glass and PVB layers provide superior rigidity and durability compared to traditional monolithic glass systems. The laminated construction also results in optimum damping, wind resistance and reduction of subsequent field component damage.

“EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP withstands the extreme conditions to which concentrating solar mirrors and reflector panels are subjected, says Scott Thomsen, group vice president and head of North American Flat Glass at Guardian. “With a glass mean free path of just 3.2 millimeters, EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP mirrors attain an average solar reflectivity of more than 95 percent. This results in a reduction of total cost of ownership for our customers.”

Other performance advantages include: industry-leading solar reflectivity; if broken, the assembly will remain intact, retaining the majority of function; virtual elimination of the risk of damage to other components from falling glass; improved safety for operators and assembly crews; and lead-free mirror assembly, according to company officials. Designed specifically for CSP parabolic trough systems, EcoGuard Solar Boost laminated reflective panels are available in standard RP-2, 3 and 4 configurations, and are direct bolt-in replacements for the traditional monolithic configurations. In addition, custom sizes and shapes are available to meet the unique needs of individual customers and applications in the CSP and CPV markets.

Source : www.glassmagazine.com

Most innovative storefront/entrance project - Two Alliance Center, Innovative Structural Glass Inc.

The Two Alliance Center is a captivating presence on Atlanta’s Buckhead skyline, featuring an entrance that is approximately 140 feet wide, 15 feet deep and 24 feet tall at its apex. The canting glass structure consists of five separate axes. Each glass axis marries to form a multi-axis glass wall, glass roof and glass soffit element. The primary support element of this entry is a ribbed construction made of glass fins and glass rafters. The focal point is a recessed glass soffit area that houses a revolving door and tempered glass swing doors. There is a continuous 20-foot long, 1 1/2-inch thick laminated glass beam that supports the glass system above the revolving door and the tempered glass swing doors.

For this project, Innovative Structural Glass, Three Rivers, Calif., took the architectural intent developed by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates Inc. of Atlanta and engineered, designed and supplied the glass entrance system to glazing contractor Trainor Glass, Alsip, Ill., for installation.

“SRSSA’s design was complex in that it was a multi-linear construction of canting and sloping planes of glass that were ultimately interconnected,” says Manuel Marinos, president and CEO, Innovative Structural Glass. “This all-glass structure not only enclosed the ground floor of a multistory office building, but was a self-supporting glass structure capable of resisting wind forces, seismic forces, thermal expansion and contraction, building movements, live load, snow load and water penetration. This design stretched the limitations of both structural glass engineering technology and glass fabrication capability.”

From an engineering perspective, the design required that Innovative Structural Glass design the system using 3D modeling techniques and Finite Element Analysis. This was done to ensure product fit and finish, in addition to structural performance. Custom glass connection brackets had to be specially designed and manufactured to accommodate the design. Innovative Structural Glass had each new design tested by an independent testing agency to verify the engineering results.

Much of the glass was custom oversized pattern cut glass that was tempered, laminated and heat soaked. The complex glass geometry required that state-of-the-art CNC glass machining centers were used to fabricate the glass. Oversized laminating and tempering equipment was also utilized to construct single lites of glass up to 20 feet in length. Due to the complexity of the glass fabrication, its oversized nature and the specifications it had to adhere to, Innovative Structural Glass had the glass fabricated offshore. Most of the glass fabrication was so complex, in order to convey the fabrication requirements for a single lite of glass, Innovative Structural Glass had to create multiple glass fabrication drawings. Before the glass was shipped, the company sent a team of quality assurance inspectors to inspect the glass lites to ensure they met its quality standards. Ultimately, when Innovative Structural Glass shipped the materials to the job site, it supplied a design engineer to provide onsite installation training and assistance.

The Beck Group, headquartered in Dallas, was the general contractor for the project. Crane Revolving Doors, Lake Bluff, Ill., fabricated the entrance’s revolving door.

Source : www.glassmagazine.com

Enamelled Glass

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the use of enamels became widespread, replacing the old methods of coloring glass - pot metal, flashing, and staining. Colored enamels seldom have the brilliance of pot-metal glass but can take on a rich translucence when carefully applied. Enamels are compounds of ground glass and oxides that become fairly transparent when heated and fused to clear or white glass.


Enamels are soft powdered coloured glass that are mixed with a medium and painted onto the glass with a brush. Deposits of special mineral pigments on the glass surface which vitrify at the annealing or tempering temperatures are stable, non-biodegradable deposits, and can be produced in one or more colours, and in different figures (tips, letters, and pads). When the medium is dry, the glass is placed in a kiln for firing.

Enamelled glass is tempered or heat-strengthened glass, one face of which is covered, either partially or totally, with mineral pigments. In addition to its decorative function, enamelled glass is also a solar ray controller.

Manufacturing Process

Glass is covered by some metallic oxide, and rendered opaque by the presence of arsenic trioxide, or an equally fusible transparent glass, mixed with some opaque infusible powder. It is always applied as a pigment, and is fixed to the glass background by heat. It is essentially a glass, and by heat should become partially incorporated with the glass upon which it is painted.

Applications

Enamelled glass can be used both internally and externally. Externally it can be used for overhead glazing such as in canopies. Internally it can be used for wall cladding and furniture and is particularly useful where resistance to humidity is required. Enamelled glass is used for glazing and for cladding in facades and roofs. Enamelled glass is also used in insulated spandrels or cladding panels in non-vision areas for an aesthetically clean appearance. It can be assembled into laminated glass or glazed insulation.

Bent Glass

Bent glass is normal glass curved by a special process. Bent or curved glass is a great alternative to the conservative rectangular design of buildings as it is available in a wide range of sizes, allowing the creation of unique and unconventional shapes. Bent glass enhances aesthetics of architectural structures.

Production

Any form of bent glass starts with flat glass and is typically produced in a horizontal mould by slowly heating the glass to approximately 600°C. The heat makes the glass soften sufficiently, transforming flat glass into various shapes of the mould. The glass gradually takes the shape of the mould and is afterwards slowly air cooled to avoid any internal stress. The mould is very important because it alone determines what the glass would look like. The mould determines the quality and the angle of the curve.

Bent glass offers significant advantages over normal glass: the thickness of the glass can be significantly reduced and this obviously reduces the overall weight of the structure and thus its cost. The extra rigidity of bent glass allows for greater freedom in the architectural design, where more space can be covered with glass. This is an especially important advantage when it comes to designing skylights. The lighter the structures and frameworks are, the less material that is required, and lower the cost.

Bent Laminated Glass

Typical applications for bent laminated glass include railing systems, elevator and revolving door enclosures, skylights and overhead glazing, and interior partitions. In addition to minimizing risk of injury from broken glass fragments, bent laminated glass is effective in security areas, reduces sound transmission, blocks potentially harmful ultra-violet light rays, and is available in a range of color tints.

Applications

Bent glass adds a special touch to aesthetic design. Curved glass surfaces can be used as part of the building facade or to make up the whole façade as well as have different applications for external and sites. Some of the external, architectural and internal applications are listed:

External applications

1. Facades
2. Shop fronts
3. Windows
4. Panoramic lifts

Internal applications

1. Showcases
2. Shower doors and enclosures
3. Curtain walls
4. Refrigerator cabinets
5. Elevator glass panels
6. Partitions
Architectural applications

• Domes
• Solariums/Aquariums
• Barrel Vaults
• Revolving doors

Photovoltaic Glass

Photovoltaic glass is a special glass with integrated solar cells that convert solar energy into electricity. This means that the power for an entire building can be produced within the roof and façade areas. The solar cells are embedded between two glass panes and a special resin is filled between the panes, securely wrapping the solar cells on all sides. Each individual cell has two electrical connections, which are linked to other cells in the module, to form a system which generates a direct electrical current.

Need for Photovoltaic Glass

Apart from providing privacy and protection from noise and rain, other features such as thermal insulation and shading are becoming increasingly desirable. All of these functionalities can be obtained simply by installing photovoltaic glass to the shell of a building.

How does it work?

As seen in the science behind PV, a photovoltaic cell is created when a positively charged (P-type) layer of silicon is placed against a negatively charged (N-type) layer of silicon to create a diode and this diode is connected in a circuit via metal conductors on the top and bottom of the silicon sandwich. Though different types of photovoltaics vary in their structure, they generally include the following elements:

1. The cell or multiple cells are the core of the photovoltaic panel.
2. A glass cover is placed over the photovoltaic cell to protect it from the elements while allowing sunlight to pass through to the cell.
3. An additional plastic anti-reflective sheet is often used to enhance the effect of the glass cover and anti-reflective coating of the cell to block reflection.
4. A panel backing (typically plastic) and frame complete the photovoltaic panel, holding all the pieces together and protecting it from damage during installation.
   

Production

The solar cells are embedded between two glass panes, and a special resin fills between the panes, securely wrapping the solar cells on all sides. Each individual cell has two electrical photovoltaic modules (PVs).

A photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel is a packaged interconnected assembly of photovoltaic cells, also known as solar cells. The photovoltaic module, known more commonly as the solar panel, is then used as a component in a larger photovoltaic system to offer electricity for commercial and residential applications.

Photovoltaic modules enable the active use of solar radiation by turning it into electrical energy; in addition, they can also represent a form of passive solar protection. The most well known PV products are silicon solar cells, available in three types:

1. Monocrystalline:

The monocrystalline solar cells are opaque, blue, or dark grey to black, and they have a high efficiency (14% to 16%). They are expensive because they are made from silicon crystals in a complicated manufacturing process.

2. Poly- or multicrystaffine:

The polycrystalline solar cells are mostly blue or opaque. These are cheaper because they are made from poured silicon blocks, but they have a lower efficiency (14%). Crystalline solar cells are produced as 0.4mm thick discs in sizes from 10 x 10cm to 15 x 15cm. These discs are then put together to form modules and embedded with resin in the cavity in a laminated glass unit. According to composition, the result can be either a transparent, translucent or a non-transparent module.

Light transmission through transparent and translucent modules can be set from 4% to 30% according to the choice of spacing. Special light-scattering and insulating glass elements have been developed to meet both the needs in terms of lighting and insulation as well as the desire to maintain and exploit the corporate image as protected through the façade. In the exterior laminated glass, PV cells have a 5mm gap between them. On the inside, a laminated glass with an opaque interlayer is used.

3. Amorphous:

Amorphous is a non-crystalline solar cells. Amorphous modules are transparent, can be used as window glazing in usual windows, sunspaces, they can be integrated into roofs etc. Transparent modules can be also part of energy efficient glazing, where they are used instead of usual glass.

Optimized exploitation of solar energy can be achieved by combining several thin film layers with different spectral responses. So-called tandem cells have reached up to 12% efficiency under laboratory conditions, slightly higher values seem possible. Further possibilities are offered by triple cells which consist of a succession of three thin film layers Efficiencies of 10% in production quantities are becoming realistic.

Bullet Proof Glass

Bullet proof glass or bullet resistant glass refers to any type of glass that is built to stand up against being penetrated by bullets. Although the public uses the term ‘bullet proof glass’, generally within the industry itself it is referred to as bullet-resistant glass, because there is no feasible way to create consumer-level glass that can truly be proof against bullets.

Bullet proof glass is usually constructed using a strong but transparent material such as polycarbonate thermoplastic or by using layers of laminated glass. The desired result is a material with an appearance and light-transmitting behavior of standard glass but offers varying degrees of protection from small arms fire.

The polycarbonate layer, usually consisting of products such as Armormax, Makroclear, Cyrolon, Lexan or Tuffak, is often sandwiched between layers of regular glass. The use of plastic in the laminate provides impact-resistance, such as physical assault with a hammer, an axe, etc. The plastic provides little in the way of bullet-resistance. The glass, which is much harder than plastic, flattens the bullet and thereby prevents penetration. This type of bullet proof glass is usually 70–75 mm (2.8–3.0 in) thick.

Bullet proof glass constructed of laminated glass layers is built from glass sheets bonded together with polyvinyl butyral, polyurethane or ethylene-vinyl acetate. This type of bullet proof glass has been in regular use on combat vehicles since World War II; it is typically about 100–120 mm (3.9–4.7 in) thick and is usually extremely heavy.

Working Principle of the Bullet Resistant Glass

In the bullet proof glass, the Laminate-layers of tough plastic called polycarbonate sandwiched in between the pieces of toughened glass make the glass ten times thicker than the ordinary glass and it is very heavy. If someone fires a bullet at an ordinary piece of glass, the glass can't bend and absorb the energy. So the glass shatters and the bullet carries on through with hardly any loss of momentum. That's why ordinary glass offers no protection against bullets.

But when a bullet strikes bullet proof glass, its energy spreads out sideways through the layers. Because the energy is divided between a number of different pieces of glass and plastic, and spread over a large area, it is quickly absorbed. The bullet slows down so much that it no longer has enough energy to pierce through—or to do much damage if it does so. Although the glass panes do break, the plastic layers stop them flying apart.

Advances in bullet resistant glass have led to the invention of one-way bullet resistant glass, such as used in some bank armored cars. This glass will resist incoming small arms fire striking the outside of the glass, but will allow those on the other side of the glass, such as guards firing from inside the armored car, to fire through the glass at the exterior threat.

One-way Bullet Proof Glass

One-way bullet proof glass is usually made up of two layers, a brittle layer on the outside and a flexible one on the inside. When a bullet is fired from the outside it hits the brittle layer first, shattering an area of it. This shattering absorbs some of the bullet's kinetic energy, and spreads it on a larger area. When the slowed bullet hits the flexible layer, it is stopped. However, when a bullet is fired from the inside, it hits the flexible layer first. The bullet penetrates the flexible layer because its energy is focused on a smaller area; the brittle layer then shatters outward due to the flexing of the inner layer and does not hinder the bullet's progress.

Advancement

The field of bullet proof glass is constantly developing, and there are a number of military projects underway to create lighter-weight, more defensive forms of bullet proof glass. One of the most promising is the use of aluminum oxynitride in the outer layer, in place of a polymer layer.

U.S. military researchers are moving quickly to develop this new class of transparent armour incorporating aluminium oxynitride (Trade name: ALON) as the outside "strike plate" layer. It performs much better than traditional glass/polymer laminates. Aluminium oxynitride "glass" can't defeat threats like the .50 caliber armor piercing rounds using material that is not prohibitively heavy. This more resistant-glass that can be used in military assault vehicles and aircraft.

Applications

Bullet Resistant glasses have a wide range of applications as follows:

• Banks
• Government Buildings
• Convenience Stores
• Churches
• Schools
• Check Cashing Stores
• Liquor Stores
• Post Offices
• Jewelry Stores
• Art Galleries

Glass Types

Flat Glass

Flat glass is the basic material that goes into all types of glass that we see (and see through) every day: All flat glass is made in the form of flat sheets. But some of it, such as that used in automobile windshields, is reheated and sagged (curved) over moulds. It is used to make windscreens and windows for automobiles and transport, and windows and façades for houses and buildings. It is also used, in much smaller quantities, for many other applications like interior fittings and decoration, furniture, "street furniture" (like for bus stops), appliances and electronics, solar energy equipment, and others.

Annealed glass

Annealed glass is the basic flat glass product that is the first result of the float process. It is the common glass that tends to break into large, jagged shards. It is used in some end products -- often in double-glazed windows, for example. It is also the starting material that is turned into more advanced products through further processing such as laminating, toughening, coating, etc.

Laminated Glass

Laminated glass is made of two or more layers of glass with one or more "interlayer’s" of polymeric material bonded between the glass layers. Laminated glass is produced using one of two methods:

1. Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) laminated glass is produced using heat and pressure to sandwich a thin layer of PVB between layers of glass. On occasion, other polymers such as Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) or Polyurethane (PU) are used. This is the most common method.
2. For special applications, Cast in Place (CIP) laminated glass is made by pouring a resin into the space between two sheets of glass that are held parallel and very close to each other.
   

Laminated glass offers many advantages. Safety and security are the best-known of these -- rather than shattering on impact, laminated glass is held together by the interlayer, reducing the safety hazard associated with shattered glass fragments, as well as, to some degree, the security risks associated with easy penetration. But the interlayer also provides a way to apply several other technologies and benefits, such as coloring, sound dampening, resistance to fire, ultraviolet filtering, and other technologies that can be embedded in or with the interlayer.
Laminated glass is used extensively in building and housing products and in the automotive and transport industries.

Alarm Glass

This is a special laminated glass designed and manufactured for security purposes. The inter-layer is embedded with a very thin wire and then “sandwiched” between two or more sheets of glass. The wire forms an electrical circuit which activates an alarm when the glass is forced

Reflective Glass

Reflective Glass is an ordinary float glass with a metallic coating to reduce solar heat. This special metallic coating also produces a mirror effect, preventing the subject from seeing through the glass. It is mainly used in façades. Reflective glasses are mainly manufactured by two different process such as Production Pyrolitic (On-Line) and Vacuum (magnetron) Process (off-line).

Anti-reflective Glass

This is float glass with a specially-designed coating which reflects a very low percentage of light. It offers maximum transparency and optical clarity, allowing optimum viewing through the glass at all times. The clarity of vision makes anti-reflective glass suitable for all applications where glass should be transparent such as exteriors, shop-fronts, commercial frontages and glazing where vision is important, particularly at nighttime. This glass can also be used in interiors for high quality picture framing, display cabinets, interior display windows and dividing screens

Fire-resistant Glass

This can be classified into two categories:

1. Heat-transmitting Glass: Heat-resistant glass is high in silica and usually contains boric oxide. It expands little when heated, so it can withstand great temperature changes without cracking. This contains flames and inflammable gas for a short period of time but does not prevent the transmission of heat to the other side of the glazing. These include wired glass and reinforced laminated glass. This type of glasses is widely used in cookware and other household equipment, and in many types of industrial gear.
   
2. Fire-insulating Glass: This contains flames and inflammable gas for a longer period of time and prevents not only the transmission of flames and smoke, but also of heat to the other side of glazing.

Tempered (toughened) Glass

Toughened glass is made from annealed glass treated with a thermal tempering process. A sheet of annealed glass is heated to above its "annealing point" of 600 °C; its surfaces are then rapidly cooled while the inner portion of the glass remains hotter. The different cooling rates between the surface and the inside of the glass produces different physical properties, resulting in compressive stresses in the surface balanced by tensile stresses in the body of the glass.

These counteracting stresses give toughened glass its increased mechanical resistance to breakage, and are also, when it does break, what cause it to produce regular, small, typically square fragments rather than long, dangerous shards that are far more likely to lead to injuries. Toughened glass also has an increased resistance to breakage as a result of stresses caused by different temperatures within a pane.

This type of glass is mainly intended for glass façades, sliding doors, building entrances, bath and shower enclosures and other purposes that require superior strength and safety.

Low-emission Glass

Glass that has a low-emissivity coating applied to it in order to control heat transfer through windows. Windows manufactured with low-E coatings typically cost about 10–15% more than regular windows, but they reduce energy loss by as much as 30–50%.

A low-E coating is a microscopically thin, virtually invisible, metal or metallic oxide layer deposited directly on the surface of one or more of the panes of glass. The low-E coating reduces the infrared radiation from a warm pane of glass to a cooler pane, thereby lowering the U-factor of the window. Different types of low-E coatings have been designed to allow for high solar gain, moderate solar gain, or low solar gain. A low-E coating can also reduce a window's visible transmittance unless you use one that's spectrally selective.

Window manufacturers apply low-E coatings in either soft or hard coats. Soft low-E coatings degrade when exposed to air and moisture, are easily damaged, and have a limited shelf life. Therefore, manufacturers carefully apply them in insulated multiple-pane windows. Hard low-E coatings, on the other hand, are more durable and can be used in add-on (retrofit) applications. The energy performance of hard-coat, low-E films is slightly poorer than that of soft-coat films.

Self-cleaning glass

Self-cleaning glass is a specific type of glass with a surface which keeps itself free of dirt and grime through natural processes. The first self-cleaning glass was based on a thin film titanium dioxide coating. The glass cleans itself in two stages.
The "photo catalytic" stage of the process breaks down the organic dirt on the glass using ultraviolet light (reflected from the glass)even on overcast days and makes the glass hydrophilic (normally glass is hydrophobic). During the following "hydrophilic" stage rain washes away the dirt, leaving almost no streaks, because hydrophilic glass spreads the water evenly over its surface

Bullet-proof glass

Bullet-proof glass is thick, multilayer laminated glass. This glass can stop even heavy-caliber bullets at close range. Bullet-resisting glass is heavy enough to absorb the energy of the bullet, and the several plastic layers hold the shattered fragments together. Such glass is used in bank teller windows and in windshields for military tanks, aircraft, and special automobiles.

Body-tinted glass

Body-tinted glass is a normal float-clear glass into whose melt colorants are added for tinting and solar-radiation absorption properties. This reduces heat penetration in buildings. Coloured glass is an important architectural element for the exterior appearance of façades. Body-tinted glass is also used in interior decoration.

Production is the same as in float glass production. The only variation is the colorants mixed at the beginning with the standard raw materials. Different additives may produce differently colored glasses.

Sand Blasted Glass

This is produced by spraying sand at high velocities over the surface of the glass. This gives the glass a translucent surface, which is usually rougher than that obtained by etching. During sandblasting, only the areas that are to remain transparent are masked for protection. The depth and degree of the translucency of the sand-blasted finishing vary with the force and type of sand used. Sand-blasted glass can be used in numerous interior design applications in both residential and commercial settings: doors, shower screens, partitions and interior screens, furniture, etc.

Acid-etched Glass

It is produced by acid etching one side of float glass. Acid-etched glass has a distinctive, uniformly smooth and satin-like appearance. Acid-etched glass admits light while providing softening and vision control. It can be used in both residential and commercial settings (doors, shower screens, furniture, wall paneling, etc.).

Wire glass

Wired glass is a product in which a wire mesh has been inserted during production. It has an impact resistance similar to that of normal glass, but in case of breakage, the mesh retains the pieces of glass. This product is traditionally accepted as low-cost fire glass. In the production of wire glass, a steel wire mesh is sandwiched between two separate ribbons of semi-molten glass, and then passed through a pair of metal rollers which squeeze the "sandwich of glass and wire" together.

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to the material of colored glass or the craft of working with it. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.
"Stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings.

Fiber glass

Fiberglass, (also called fibreglass and glass fiber), is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. It is used as a reinforcing agent for many polymer products; the resulting composite material, properly known as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), is called "fiberglass" in popular usage.

Bent Glass

This is a normal glass that is curved with a special process. It can be used for external sites such as facades, shop fronts and panoramic lifts. This glass is also commonly used for internal sites for showcases, shower doors and refrigerator cabinets

Patterned Glass

This glass does not have a perfectly-smooth surface but rather has different patterns impressed on it. The most common method for producing patterned glass is to pass heated glass (usually just after it exits the furnace where it is made) between rollers whose surfaces contain the negative relief of the desired pattern(s). The depth, size and shape of the patterns largely determine the magnitude and direction of reflection. Patterned glass usually transmits only slightly less light than clear glass. It can be used for a variety of applications such as interior design and decorations, furniture, windows and street furniture.

Enamelled Glass

This is tempered or heat-strengthened glass, one face of which is covered, either partially or totally, with mineral pigments. In addition to its decorative function, enameled glass is also a solar ray controller. Enamelled glass is used for glazing and for cladding facades and roofs. It can be assembled into laminated glass or glazed insulation.

Colored structural glass is a heavy plate glass, available in many colors. It is used in buildings as an exterior facing, and for interior walls, partitions, and tabletops.

Soda Glass

Soda Glass is the cheapest & most common glass. It is prepared by fusing soda ash, sand, limestone. It is also called soft glass. It fuses at comparatively low temperatures. The major disadvantage of using this glass is that it is brittle & breaks easily. It cracks when subjected to sudden changes of temperature. Soda glass is used for the manufacture of window glass, glass mirrors, common glassware etc. it is easily attacked by chemicals.

Hard Glass

Hard Glass is obtained by fusing potassium carbonate & limestone. It is used for making hard glass apparatus. It is more resistant to the action of acids.

Lead Crystal Glass

Lead Crystal Glass is made from potassium carbonate, lead oxide & sand. Lead glass has high refractive index. It, therefore, sparkles & is used for making expensive glass ware. The surface of lead glass objects is often cut into decorative patterns to reflect light. Cut glass show extraordinary sparkle.

Pyrex Glass

It is made by fusing a mixture of sand, lime, borax (Na2B4O7.10H2O) & alkali carbonates. It has good chemical laboratory apparatus, ampoules, pharmaceutical containers, etc. In home, it is familiar with oven ware.

Optical Glass

It is specially made so as to be free of strains & defects. It is used for making lenses for spectacles, microscopes, cameras, telescopes & other optical instruments.

Colored Structural Glass

Colored structural glass is a heavy plate glass, available in many colors. It is used in buildings as an exterior facing, and for interior walls, partitions, and tabletops.

Opal glass

Opal glass has small particles in the body of the glass that disperse the light passing through it, making the glass appear milky. The ingredients necessary to produce opal glass include fluorides (chemical compounds containing fluorine). This glass is widely used in lighting fixtures and for tableware.

Foam glass

Foam glass, when it is cut, looks like a black honeycomb. It is filled with many tiny cells of gas. Each cell is surrounded and sealed off from the others by thin walls of glass. Foam glass is so light that it floats on water. It is widely used as a heat insulator in buildings, on steam pipes, and on chemical equipment. Foam glass can be cut into various shapes with a saw.

Photochromic glass

Photochromic glass darkens when exposed to ultraviolet rays and clears up when the rays are removed. Photochromic glass is used for windows, sunglasses, and instrument controls.