Spray Hard Coat Glass Vs CVD Hard

Coat Glass

If somebody tries to sell you cheap reflective glass saying it is Hard Coated, the first thing you
should ask is Is it spray hard coat or CVD hard coat?. Spray hard coat could be termed as a
primitive and is relatively cheaper, in this one the chemical composition is sprayed over glass
which would be in a semi solid stage (online process). Most cases, the coating tends to be uneven
and deposition rate would be poor. In most cases the coated side appears yellowish.

CVD (Chemical vapor deposition in atmospheric pressure) on the other hand is far superior and
the latest. Here, the chemical composition is vaporised and then allowed to deposit on semi-solid
glass (online coating) in a controlled manner, achieving high deposition rate and the coating
would be even. In most cases, the coated side would have a silver appearance.

It would be a disaster if spray coated glasses which come at cheap rates are used (especially
when it is mis-sold with the name Hard coated reflective glass) in buildings. Below are some
pictures for reference.
Spray Hard Coat Coating peel off

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Glass Types for Building Envelope Products

There are typically four different glass types used in glazing products: From weakest to strongest
they are: Annealed, Heat Strengthened, Tempered and Laminated.

1. Annealed glass is your basic non-impact glass type. It is used in applications where the
required wind load is not so high and safety requirements are not a concern. When annealed
glass breaks, it breaks in sharp chards.

2. Heat Strengthened glass is also a non-impact glass. It undergoes a heat treatment that
increases its strength to twice that of annealed glass. It is used in similar applications to
annealed glass but where the required wind loads are much higher. When heat strengthened glass
breaks, it also breaks in chards.

3. Tempered glass is your basic impact glass. It undergoes a more aggressive treatment that
increases its strength to four times that of annealed glass. It is used in small missile impact
applications typically installed 30 feet or higher above ground and in safeguard applications.
When tempered glass breaks, it breaks into very small cubes.
4. Laminated glass is your typical impact glass. It is a combination of two (usually) of the three
previously mentioned glass types that are laminated together with an interlayer between them.
It is typically used in large missile impact applications installed up to 30 feet above ground.
When laminated glass breaks, it breaks based on its glass type make-up but is held in place by
the interlayersimilar to a cars windshield.

By,
Rick DLG

Chemically Strengthened Glasses

Heres an interesting find from Glazette.com. This article claims about a new type of glass
tempering, called Chemical Strengthening. It is also claimed in the article that these glasses are 6
to 8 times stronger than annealed glass, where as toughened glass is only 4 to 5 times strong.
Most amazing fact is that these glasses could be cut after tempering unlike toughened glasses.
However, the breakage pattern for these glasses remain almost the same as annealed glass, which
obviously affects its acceptance in terms of safety.

Is Glass Really A Green Building Material?

If somebody says that Glass is a green building material, the straight and honest answer would be
a big No! Just because in many high rise green rated buildings, glass has been used extensively,
it doesnt make it a green product in itself. One might have encountered with many architects
and glass industry professionals who bluntly promote glass as a green product, then why is this
article contradicting that belief? Here is an explanation on why glass is not a green product by
itself, but why it is essential for a green rated building. This article is in context of float glass
only, which is the most widely used in buildings.

Glass could earn a few green points for the fact that it could be recycled. Broken pieces of glass
are added along with the raw materials while glass is manufactured so as to bring down the
boiling point and there by reduce the energy consumption. Also if the manufacturing facility is
near to the building in construction, that could also fetch a few points for green rating, as the
material is locally sourced. Local sourcing of material means less energy consumed for
transporting the material.

Glass is extensively used in green buildings to harvest maximum light inside and to reduce
energy consumption for internal lighting requirements. When more natural light enters a
building, equal amount of heat also enters the building. 50% of the Visual Light Transmittance
(VLT) is direct solar energy (ER or DET). So when you are asking for 100% light transmittance,
you are getting 50% of heat along with it! If in a building, which is centrally air-conditioned, and
if it is clear glass which is being extensively used, energy consumption for internal lighting
might get reduced to a significant level, but at the same time energy consumption by the air-
conditioner would be enormously escalated. This is where solar control and thermal insulating
glasses play a major role.
Solar control glasses let in maximum light and also cuts DET down to a great level. Since 80 to
90% of heat entering a building is solar heat, maximum energy could be saved on lighting and
air-conditioning. Apart from direct solar energy, non-solar energy or indirect energy, could also
be controlled by using double glazed/ Isulated glass units(DGU / IGU), and thermal insulating
glass. A DGU cuts down the heat entering a building due to conduction (glass is a good heat
conductor) and convection. A thermal insulating or a low emissivity (Low-e) coated glass can
reduce the non-solar heat by cutting down the transmittance of Long Wave Infra Red Radiation
(LWIR). LWIR is emitted by objects like trees and furnitures during the night time, which
absorb the Short Wave Infra Red Radiation (SWIR). In moderate to cold climate conditions,
where heaters are used in buildings, it is better to go for a very low u-value glass, so as to prevent
heat loss from the building. In tropical climates, it is better to have a moderate u-value range.

In short, it is not an isolated pane of glass that is green rated or that helps you gain green points,
it is the configuration of glass units installed in your building, based on the window to wall ratio,
orientation of the building, total glazing area, energy efficiency of the building, and hours of
operation of the building occupants.

(Originally written for Associatedcontent.com)

Soft Coat Glass

Soft Coat Glass, otherwise known as vacuum coated or off-line coated glasses, are manufactured
by a process which is entirely different from hard coat glass (discussed in last post). The name
soft coat is given because of the susceptible nature of the coating to get peeled off (in single
glazing/ monolithic application) when compared to hard coat. However, soft coat glasses can
offer a very low solar factor when compared to hard coat glasses.

Manufacturing process involves metal particles being deposited on the glass surface inside a
vacuum chamber. The process, otherwise known as Magnetron Sputtering Vapor Deposition
(MSVD) is sometimes referred to as Cathodic Vapor Deposition. Some glass manufacturers
mention it as CVD coating, just to create a confusion with actual Atmospheric Pressure
Chemical Vapor Deposition, mis-interpret it and mis-sell it as hard coat.

During the process, the material to be sputtered is loaded in a high voltage electric circuit, which
is followed by the feeding of process gas into vacuum chamber, where plasma is formed. An ion
discharge takes place inside the chamber, these positive charged ions gets attracted and collide
with the material to be sputtered. This process happens at a very high speed and atoms of the
material sputtered gets ejected, which gets accumulated on the glass below. Most widely used
metals for sputtering are Silver and Titanium.

Soft coat glasses are generally used in double glazed units, with the coated surface at position 2
or 3, so that the coating is kept protected from peeling off. With the advance in technology, soft
coat glasses are now made which can also be used in monolithic form (single glazed) with much
improved life for the coating, but still the life of the coating cannot match with that of hard coat
glass in monolithic applications.
Soft coat glass also has problems while tempering when compared to hard coat glass. It tends to
show up a problem called lensing, which happens because the coated surface of the glass reflects
Infra Red radiation and heats up differently than the lower surface (which is heated).

Reference:

http://www.pilkington.com/the+americas/usa/english/building+products/for+architects/faqs/defa
ult.htm

http://glassmanual.com/article.php?aid=171

http://www.glassonweb.com/forum/view.php?mID=5397&gSearch=soft%20coat%20glass

http://arcon-
glas.de/var/plain_site/storage/original/application/8276eb9e8f92e47dcb82f9da74472322.pdf

Hard Coated Reflective Glass

Espace rolin fortis, Brussels- Stopsol Silverlight

Hard coated or pyrolytic coated reflective glasses are those in which the coating is applied when
the glass is manufactured,i.e. it is an online coating process. In this process of coating, the glass
is fused into the glass at 650-700 degree celcius, and on cooling, the coating becomes a part of
the glass.

Primary advantage of hard coated glass is the durability, it could also be handled like
normal/annealed glass, could be easily heat strengthened, toughened, laminated or curved. These
glasses could also be used in single glazing without any fear of losing the coating. Soft coat
glasses (to be discussed in the next post) are susceptible to scratch and degradation over time,
and requires special handling, hard coated glasses were invented just to counter this
problem. Only disadvantage is the variety of colors available when compared to off line coating.
Continue reading
Laminated Glass: Myths and Facts

There are major defects happening with laminated glass, if the process is not executed properly.
Most prominent of such problems is de-lamination. This happens mainly due to the poor bonding
between the glass and PVB sheet. In my previous post on laminated glass basics, I had
mentioned about the clean facility requirement for lamination process, if this is not followed in
the facility, there are chances for dust to stick on to the PVB and at a later stage, resulting in de-
lamination. Waviness in the glass is also another reason for de-lamination: waviness in the glass
can happen mainly due to poor quality tempering and even in annealed glass which has high
amount of inherent waviness. De-lamination mainly occur at the edges where chemical bonding
is weaker. De-lamination may also happen when the unit is over exposed to water, mason errors
(like improper cutting), applying poor quality sealants, etc. Continue reading

Laminated Glass Basics

Gallery

Posted on 19/01/2011 by glassknowledgeblog

Laminated glass is made by sandwiching Poly vinyl butryl (PVB) sheet in between two pieces of
glass. Laminated glass offers more safety because when the glass breaks, it keeps sticking on to
the PVB sheet in the middle. Apart from Continue reading

Initially, window glasses were made by cutting from large discs of Crown glass. Crown glass is
nothing but a large globe of glass, made by blowing molten glass into a crown or a hollow globe.
The crown glass is further reheated and spinned out of the globe into large discs, which were
then flattened using centrifugal force. These glasses were then cut into desired sizes. There were
other methods of making glass as well, like the blown plate, broad sheet, polished plate and
cylinder blown sheets, which were all in practice up till the end of the 19th century. 20th century
witnessed more advanced processes like rolled plate, machine drawn cylinder sheet, flat drawn
sheet, single and twin ground polished plate and float glass. Continue reading