Glass lecture notes 2016

Glassmaking materials

 The key constituent is sand, which provides the silica (SiO2) matrix, and glass
making historically evolved in locations with a source of pure silica sand. Pure silica
melts sharply at about 1600°C and forms a dense glass with high refractive index
on cooling.
 On slow cooling in nature, silica forms crystals of quartz or coloured gem stones
like amethyst, ruby and sapphire according to the presence of small amounts of
impurities (elements other than silicon).
 The high melting temperature and narrow temperature range over which the
material can be formed make pure silica glasses impractical for most purposes.
 The process of making glass in craft or industry involves the addition of ‘fluxes’,
which are other minerals that lower the melting point and widen the range of
workability.
 Adding soda (Na2O) in the form of soda ash (Na2CO3) lowers the melting point by
about 500°C but leaves the glass soluble in water.
 Adding lime (CaO) to the soda glass, in the form of limestone, calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) makes the glass insoluble and widens its working range.
 Cullet (broken glass) forms a key part of the batch, improving heat transfer during
melting and acting as a flux. Soda lime glass produced industrially also contains
dolomite, which adds some magnesium oxide (MgO), and a number of other metal
oxides in small quantities to control the melting point, working range and colour.
The range of float glass composition is shown in Table 57.1, but each float

plant tends to be optimised to a different mix to take advantage of the locally

available minerals and the design of the equipment, so chemical analysis can
sometimes be used to trace a sample of float glass to a particular plant or
manufacturer.
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

Composition

 Iron oxide in the raw materials gives the glass a light green colour.
 There are several ‘low iron’ glasses available that have a much whiter
appearance.
 Glass used in buildings is almost exclusively soda lime silicate glass.
 Borosilicate glass is also produced industrially by the sheet and floats
processes, and is used principally for its fire resistance because it has a lower
coefficient of thermal expansion, which means it is less likely to crack when
heated rapidly in a fire.
 It is also very widely used in tube form for handling chemicals, for instance as
pipe work in laboratories and chemical plant.
 The chemical composition of borosilicate glass is approximately 70% silica, 10%
boric oxide, 8% sodium oxide, 8% potassium oxide, and 1% calcium oxide.

Constituents and microstructure of glass

 The microstructure of glass is dominated by the nature and arrangement of the

bonds between the silicon and oxygen atoms that form the silica matrix.
 The fundamental characteristic of a glass is that it has an amorphous
microstructure, meaning no shape or order, so there are no crystalline regions,
as illustrated in Fig. 57.1.
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 The significant thing about an amorphous structure is that there are no slip
planes, dislocations or grain boundaries to enable plastic flow and impart
toughness.
 Once a crack has been created in a glass, it will encounter no change in
properties as it progresses through the material, so it can grow deeper and
become a more intense stress raiser until it causes fracture or the load is
relieved.

Rolled glass (including wired and polished wired)

 Patterned glass and low optical quality glass for horticultural use is produced
by the rolled plate process, in which the molten glass is poured between a
pair of temperature-controlled iron rollers.
 The ribbon is transported horizontally on ceramic rollers as it stiffens and
cools until annealed and cut automatically.
 The lower iron roller is engraved with a pattern to create the texture in the
glass, which may be for decorative or obscuring purposes (Fig. 57.2).
 Wired glass is produced by the rolling process, but with the flow of molten
glass divided into two streams, one above the other, two ribbons of hot glass
are brought together continuously with wire mesh fed between the two.
Further rolling joins the ribbons of glass around the wire and forms
textured

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

surfaces to the finished glass.

 If wired glass with smooth surfaces is required it is mechanically polished
to remove the surface texture.
 Wired glass was the first kind of glass to have any structural integrity
after breakage, so it was often used for overhead applications before the
introduction of laminated glass, but it does not have the toughness to be an
effective safety glass and it is weaker than float glass because of the
internal defects caused by the encapsulated wire.
 Wired glass can provide 30 minutes integrity against fire when properly
framed, and is often used for this property in doors and small windows.

Float glass

 The float process provides over 90% of flat glass production.

 In a continuous process, glass is melted from the mineral batch, refined in a
tank where the molten glass moves slowly to allow bubbles to escape, then

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

flows onto a bath of molten tin, where it floats and naturally forms a ‘ribbon’
about 6 mm thick.
 The interface between the glass and the molten tin is perfectly flat and the
top surface is smooth and ‘fire polished’.
 As the ribbon is drawn across the tin bath it is allowed to cool from about
1100°C to around 600°C, at which temperature it is rigid, and it progresses
onto a series of ceramic rollers.
 The rollers carry the continuous ribbon through the ‘lehr’, a continuous oven
in which the temperature of the glass is lowered gradually and evenly so that
it emerges in the ‘annealed’ condition, i.e. with very low residual stress (Fig.
57.3).
 The cutting of float glass is fully automated and the glass is stacked by
robots into packs of typically 2 tonnes for distribution in loads of 20 t.
 The standard maximum size in Europe is 6000 mm by 3210 mm, and is known
as a ‘jumbo sheet’. Longer ‘super jumbos’ up to 8 or 9 m long are available
from some float lines to special order, and a very few lines can produce
extremely long sheets up to around 12 m, but elaborate handling equipment
has to be arranged to off-load and transport such glass.
 A typical float line produces around 500 t of glass per day and can be
adjusted to produce a range of thickness. The thinner ‘substances’ have to
be stretched out as they cross the float tank, and to make heavy glass the
ribbon has to be constrained to build up the thickness.
 Changing from one thickness to another takes time as the glass flows
continuously, and the process is allowed to settle within the tolerances of
the next thickness.
 Float lines operate a system of ‘campaigns’, in which the substance is
stepped up progressively to the maximum and then down to the minimum,
with a planned volume of production at each thickness. Float glass for
buildings is available in standard thicknesses (defined in BS EN 572-2) of 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 19 and 25 mm.
 Some float lines specialise in body tinted (coloured) solar control glass,
where additional minerals are added to pigment the glass to absorb more
infrared energy and visible light.
 Body tints in green, grey, bronze, blue and pink are available in a limited
range of thicknesses. It can take a matter of days for a float line to change
from one colour to another, as the old composition flows out of the tank and
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

the new composition flows through consistently, and the thickness and
quality settle down.

Coatings

 Float glass is commonly coated to alter its transmission of energy or other

surface properties. Some coatings can be applied on the float line while the
glass is hot, by the process of chemical vapour deposition, which is highly
economical.
 These ‘pyrolitic’ (higtemperature), on-line coatings are hard, strong and
durable because they are intimately joined to the glass surface.
 Other coatings, known as ‘off line’ or ‘soft’ are applied by the separate
process of magnetron sputtering at room temperature but under high
vacuum.
 The glass enters a continuous series of vacuum chambers, in which the top
surface of the glass is exposed to an electric plasma that bounces metal
atoms off a solid metal ‘target’ to deposit as a layer on the glass.
 Traces of gas can be introduced to the plasma so that the deposited layer is
a pure metal, an oxide or a nitride.
 Pure silver layers are used as part of a ‘stack’ of up to 12 coatings designed
to work in combination to achieve the desired spectral properties.

Low-emissivity glass

 Glass naturally has an emissivity of about 0.9 to the broad spectrum of

infrared energy emitted around room temperature.
 Since emissivity and absorbtivity are two expressions of the same physical
property, this means that glass will absorb 90% of heat energy that is
radiated to it from the people and interior of a room, and will radiate it
equally readily across the insulating cavity of a plain double-glazed unit.
 To improve the insulating performance of double glazing, low emissivity –
‘low-e’ – coatings are applied very widely by on-line (pyrolitic) and off-line
(sputtering) processes.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

Solar-control glass

 Direct solar energy consists of a few percent ultraviolet, about 47% visible
light and about 50% short wave infrared radiation, which passes easily
through the glass to the interior.
 In cold climates and greenhouses this ‘solar gain’ is beneficial and can be
retained by the use of ‘low-e’ coatings (see above) but in hot climates, or
buildings with an excess of internal heat gains and large glass areas, the
solar gain can place a large load on cooling systems.
 Solar-control coatings are designed to reflect the short wave ‘near infrared’
radiation back into the environment and allow visible light through to the
interior.
 The best modern coatings have very little effect on the balance of visible
wavelengths and so the light retains it natural colour, which is measured as
the ‘colour rendering index’.

Selective, high-performance glass

 Late 20th, early 21st century architecture pursued the ideal of a

comfortable but transparent clear glass building with an invisible barrier
between inside and outside.
 A range of clear solar-control coatings with very high light transmission,
good colour rendering and low emissivity to give good thermal insulation,
were developed.
 They are known as ‘high performance’ or ‘highly selective’ because they
select between the visible light to be transmitted and the infrared to be
reflected outwards or inwards.
Self-cleaning glass
 There are two competing strategies for making glass ‘self cleaning’ or
‘reduced cleaning’.
 The first products were liquid applied coatings offered as after-market
treatments, which make the glass water repellent or ‘hydrophobic’.
 The objective is that water does not wet the glass surface but forms beads
that run off easily, carrying away dust particles. The effect is similar to
that of the surface of a well polished car, a lotus flower or a fresh cabbage
leaf.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 The latest generation of self-cleaning coatings are based on the ‘super-

hydrophilic strategy’, in which the glass surface is made highly attractive to
water, so that surface tension is overcome and the water wets the surface
thoroughly.
 The coating of titanium dioxide is applied on the float line, so it is an integral
part of the surface and highly durable.
 The coating acts as a catalyst under ultraviolet light, which breaks down
organic deposits assisting the self cleaning action.

Strengthening processes

Toughening (tempering) with heat soak test

 Thermal toughening, known as tempering in North America, is based on the

phenomenon that glass contracts further at high temperatures if it is cooled
more slowly.

 The technique is to raise the temperature of the glass evenly above its
transition point, say to about 620°C, when it is starting to become soft, and
then cool it evenly on both surfaces (Fig. 57.4).
 The surfaces harden quickly and the core of the glass sheet contracts as it
cools more slowly, producing a balanced distribution of tension in the centre
of the sheet and compression at the surfaces.
 Typically the surface compression would be around 100 MPa and the central
tension about half this value, with the distribution being parabolic through
the thickness (Fig. 57.5).
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 With the surface of the glass in a state of permanent compression, any

applied stresses must overcome the residual stress before opening surface
flaws that could cause fracture.
 The core of the glass is generally free from defects and so is able to resist
the residual tension permanently.
 Toughened glass can be broken by penetrating the compressive layer at its
surface so that a crack enters a zone where the residual stress is tensile.
 This can be caused by hard impact or by sustained contact with hard
materials, especially where sharp features concentrate the contact stress.
 The residual compression stress effectively increases the strength by a
factor of about four and provides a proportion of strength that is
unaffected by the duration of loading.
 Secondly, when broken, the stored strain energy drives a process of crack
branching that spreads throughout the pane in a fraction of a second and
divides it into roughly cubic fragments.
 This characteristic fracture pattern is much less prone to cause cutting and
piercing injuries and for this reason properly toughened glass can be
classified as a ‘safety glass’. Its first widespread use was in car windscreens,
and it is still used for side windows and rear screens but has been replaced
in windscreens by laminated glass.
 Toughened glass is only able to sustain the high residual tensile stress that
exists at its core because there are no flaws or cracks in that region to
weaken it.
 However, certain types of inclusion, notably those of nickel sulphide (NiS),
undergo a solid-state phase transformation that can cause cracks that lead
to what is known as ‘spontaneous breakage’.
 Nickelbearing ores and metallic nickel, such as is found in stainless steel, are
eliminated from the whole process of mining, transporting and preparing the
batch for glass making as far as possible, but occasional contamination is
inevitable in processes consuming hundreds of tonnes of raw material per
day.
 Nickel in the melt reacts with sulphur, which is a common contaminant, and
tiny globules of nickel sulphide form in the glass.
 At the high temperature of the float tank, nickel sulphide adopts a close-
packed crystal structure know as the ‘alpha phase’ but at room temperature

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

its stable ‘beta’ phase is a less dense structure, so nickel sulphide inclusions
tend to expand over time as they transform.
 In annealed glass this is not a problem but when this happens in toughened
glass it can cause a tiny crack that initiates fracture. Nickel sulphide
inclusions are only critical if they exist in the tensile region of the
toughened glass, and are large enough to generate cracks.
 Critical inclusions tend to be between 40 and 250 mm, which is too small to
be obvious on visual inspection, although large enough to see with the naked
eye once located.

Fig.57.5 Distribution of residual stress in toughened glass.

 The unexpected breakage of toughened glass can be inconvenient and costly,

alarming, and sometimes dangerous, so a great deal of effort has been
dedicated to preventing it.
 The most effective method has been found to be ‘heat soaking’, in which the
toughened glass is re-heated to a temperature at which critical nickel
sulphide inclusions will undergo the transition to the beta phase and cause
breakage then and there.
 Heat soaking is defined in the European standard for heat-soaked thermally
toughened soda lime silicate glass BS EN 14179, and involves raising the
glass to a temperature of between 280°C and 300°C for two hours.

Heat strengthening

 The additional strength of toughened glass is valuable for providing resistance

to wind pressure and thermal stress, but its fracture pattern makes it prone to
collapse once broken and this can be a safety issue if it falls from a tall
building.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 Heat-strengthened glass has about twice the strength of annealed (float) glass
and enough thermal shock resistance to suit any practical building example, but
its residual compressive stress is low enough not to break the pane into multiple
fragments.
 The intention is that heat strengthened glass breaks more or less like annealed
glass, with a radiating pattern of cracks and very little branching, so that all
the fragments extend to the perimeter and can be retained by the glazing
system.
 The European standard for heat-strengthened glass (EN1863) defines the
required fracture pattern and sets a minimum characteristic bending strength.
 Heat strengthening is carried out with the same machinery as toughening, and
the process steps are the same, with the exception of the quenching stage, and
the glass is cooled more slowly so that the temperature difference between the
core and the surfaces is carefully controlled.
 Heat-strengthened glass is not a safety glass because when it breaks it does
not break in a safe manner that would avoid injury to someone impacting it.
 The combination of higher strength, thermal shock resistance and radial
breakage pattern makes heat strengthened glass very useful when laminated
with other panes for structural applications.

Chemical strengthening

 Chemical strengthening is an alternative way of establishing compressive

stress in the surface of the glass without introducing distortion, and which
can be applied to any thickness of glass.
 The process is, in essence, one of replacing sodium ions (from the soda flux)
at the surface of the glass with potassium ions, which are bigger.
 The wedging action caused by the substitution generates a compressive
stress in a very shallow layer of the surface, which is balanced by a very low
tensile stress in the core.
 It is carried out by placing the glass in a bath of hot potassium chloride, the
temperature, concentration and duration of immersion being proprietary
parameters.
 Despite its cost and other limitations, chemical strengthening is the only
option for some shaped glasses, such as conics, and is widely used for the

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

layers of laminated aircraft windows, where high strength thin glass is

required for weight saving.
 Very little strain energy is stored in the panel by the chemical strengthening
process, so the treated glass does not fragment like toughened glass, and it
is not a safety glazing material unless laminated.

Forming processes

Bending

 Flat glass can be bent by heating to around 700°C and allowing to slump into
or over a mould, often made of steel sheet or tubes draped with refractory
fabric.
 Such moulds can be relatively inexpensive and are suitable for ruled
surfaces, especially cylindrical or sinusoidal forms.
 If a laminated panel is required, a pair of blanks or up to four to make an
insulating unit, are stacked together, separated with a mineral powder to
prevent adhesion when the glass is hot.
 The blank is then placed on the mould and the kiln closed and fired.
 The glass softens and sags into or slumps over the mould and the
temperature is lowered to the annealing range, through which it is lowered
slowly to allow the stresses of bending to relax and to prevent the creation
of residual stress.
 Double curves such as segments of a sphere or ellipsoid, which require
stretching, are often approximated by sag bending on a ‘skeleton mould’.
 This consists of a shaped steel rail defining the required perimeter profile
of the glass, supported by a welded lightweight steel framework, with a
reference point indicating the maximum depth of curvature of the required
form (Fig. 57.6).
 An over-sized flat blank of glass is placed on the high points of the skeleton
mould, and the kiln heated to the bending temperature. While the glass
temperature rises, it has to be observed as it softens and deflects, and the
kiln temperature quickly dropped to arrest its flow when the glass reaches
the desired depth of curvature.
 Great skill and experience are required in the design of the mould and the
application of heat to the glass, to influence how and where it flows to get
the best approximation of the intended form.
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 The kiln bending process is adapted to create a wide variety of unique

textures and patterns in a process known as ‘kiln forming’ or ‘casting’.
 Here the flat glass blank is placed on a full surface mould of ceramic or
steel and heated until it conforms to the surface texture of the mould.

Bending and tempering

 Curved or bent toughened glass cannot be made by the processes described

above, because both surfaces have to be exposed to cooling air in order to
achieve the required residual stress.
 Special tempering machines are used, in which the rollers of the quenching
section are mounted on numerically-controlled mechanisms, and in some cases
are segmented and flexible.
 When the hot glass enters the quenching section, the rollers are moved to the
programmed shape and continue to oscillate the glass as it bends under its own
weight, before air is blown from above and below to temper the glass.
 If laminated bent toughened glass is required, each sheet of glass has to be
processed separately and with sufficient consistency that pairs can be
laminated together.
 There are no standards for the quality of curved glass at present, so designers
have to specify the requirements for individual projects in considerable detail.

Channel glass

 In an adaptation of the rolled plate process, a rigid glass channel can be

created, which has much greater strength and stiffness in one direction than a
sheet of glass.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 Longitudinal wires can also be introduced into the glass to provide a very
limited degree of stabilisation after breakage.
 Glass channels have been widely used as an inexpensive means of providing
daylight, especially for industrial buildings, but more recently for architectural
applications, because they can span between floors without the need for
framing.

Decoration processes
Sand blasting

 A simple way to modify the transparency of glass is to sand blast one surface
to create a texture that scatters the light and diffuses the image seen
through the pane.
 A range of textures can be produced and the surface can be sculpted to
achieve surface relief.
 Automated sand blasting is used to achieve consistent texture, and can be
combined with masking to apply patterns and graphic designs, while manual
blasting allows more creative effects.
 Abrasive granules are fired at the surface of the glass by a stream of
compressed air and create a mass of pits and tiny cracks, which act to reflect
and refract light in random directions.
 The surface tends to absorb grease and oils readily, so it shows finger marks
and is difficult to clean.
 Therefore a sand-blasted surface is commonly sealed with a proprietary dirt-
repellent treatment before delivery.
 Sand-blasted surfaces provide higher friction than smooth glass surfaces
when wet, so are sometimes used to reduce the risk of slipping on glass
flooring.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

Acid etching

 Glass is resistant to most chemicals but can be dissolved by hydrofluoric

acid.
 The areas not to be etched are masked and the glass set up so that the
surface can be flooded with hydrofluoric acid.
 Variations of the solution and the etching time are used to create a subtle
range of textures and, being a skilled craft, acid etching is a costly process.
 Acid-etched glass diffuses light rather less than sand-blasted because the
surface is more undulating and granular, lacking the numerous tiny fracture
faces that characterise the sand-blasted finish. However, acid-etched glass
is easier to clean and does not mark so readily.

Fritting

 Ceramic ‘frit’ is a mixture of low melting-point clear glass and mineral

pigments in the form of a water-based paste, which can be applied to glass,
dried and then fired to create permanent enamel.
 A wide range of colours is available to special order but most processors
offer a limited range of standards, usually including black and white, a few
muted colours and a translucent white ‘mist frit’ that very effectively
mimics sand-blasted or acid-etched glass.
 Abrasive granules can be added to frit to provide a non-slip surface.
 The frit is fired during the heating phase of the toughening or bending
process, and the vast majority of fritted glass is toughened or heat
strengthened.
 Patterns such as dots, meshes and lines, are usually applied by ‘silk-screen
printing’, in which the frit is forced through a masked screen by a squeegee.
 Recently, a digital process has been devised by means of which masking of
the screen can be carried out, which allows images to be incorporated easily,
but the cost of screens remains significant. Some processors are able to
apply several layers of different colour frit by successive printing steps.
 Frit can also be applied directly to the glass by the ‘ink-jet’ process on a
scale of up to 3 m by 4 m.
 Direct digital printing in this way can reproduce digital artwork in colour but
is currently a slow process, and therefore more suited to individual designs
rather than repetitive patterns.
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

Stained glass

 The ancient technique of ‘stained glass’, in which pigments were fired

directly into the surface of clear glass, has been updated recently.
 Instead of ink-jet printing with a liquid frit, this process deposits dry
powder pigments onto the glass under digital control.
 When the glass is fired, the pigments flow and merge, which results in less
definition than a digitally printed frit but much higher translucency and
blending of colour.

Printing

 When glass is laminated, the plastic interlayer material can be digitally

printed with patterns or images in full colour.
 The resolution of printing onto plastics using organic inks is currently better
and more flexible than directly printing frit onto the glass.
Laminating
 The brittleness of glass itself cannot be modified, but lamination provides a
means of producing a glass pane with a form of ductility.
 Lamination involves sandwiching a layer of ductile plastic between layers of
glass, and can be used to make products with a range of performance, from a
modest level of protection in the case of human impact, to the ability to stop
high velocity ballistics.
 Most glass is laminated by the ‘nip roller and autoclave’ process, using a
polyvinyl-butyral (PVB) clear interlayer.
 The glass is usually in the annealed form, but can be toughened or heat
strengthened and may be coated or decorated before lamination.
 A sheet of PVB is laid onto one pane and another placed on top, in a ‘clean
room’ section of the factory where the atmosphere is controlled and the
potential for contamination minimized (Fig. 57.7).

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 The pane passes through a pair of rubber-coated rollers, which squeeze out
most of the air trapped between the glass and the textured surface of them
PVB.
 Once the sandwich has been heated and passed through another pair of ‘nip
rollers’, the glass is stacked on edge upon a ‘stillage’ and loaded into an
autoclave, where the temperature is raised to around 130°C and the pressure is
raised to around 16 bar (16 atmospheres or around 1600 kPa). The small amount
of trapped air dissolves in the hot PVB interlayer, which wets the surface
completely.
 The temperature and pressure are reduced in a controlled way and the glass is
removed from the autoclave.
 Glass that is curved, deeply textured or very thick, is not suitable for the nip
roller process and a vacuum bag is used in its place. This is a flat bag, formed
around the assembled glass from sheets of polyester film and sealed at the
perimeter, from which the air is evacuated through a valve.
 PVB is the most widely used interlayer because it is reasonably economical,
extremely ductile and energy absorbing and resistant to ultraviolet light.
 One of the alternatives to PVB is ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), which is also
supplied in sheet form on a roll, and is widely used in the lamination of photo-
voltaic cells into modules encapsulated between panes of glass.
 Panes laminated with EVA tend to be more resistant to high temperatures and
less affected by moisture ingress at the edges, although EVA is not as ductile
and tough as PVB.
 Polyurethane (PU) sheet interlayers have good heat resistance, remaining
rubbery and elastic over a wide range of temperatures, and bond well to sheet
plastics like polycarbonate.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 This makes them a preferred choice for some security glazing applications
against ballistics and manual attack.
 The clarity of polyurethane interlayers is good but the cost is higher than for
other interlayers.
 The latest sheet interlayer to have a significant impact on architectural
glazing is only available from one supplier, but has been adopted by a number of
processors to offer different mechanical properties from PVB.
 DuPont Sentry Glass has an ‘ionomer’ interlayer; developed from a class of
plastics originally used for the skin of golf balls, it has high strength and
stiffness, which it retains up to around 50°C.
 Within the polymer structure are ionic bonds that are mobile at processing
temperatures but prevent the polymer chains from sliding over each other at
service temperatures.
 Ionomer interlayer bonds strongly to glass and very strongly to metals. The
principal advantage of ionomer interlayer is its high shear modulus and
resistance to stress relaxation, which allows designers to take advantage of
composite action between panes of glass when laminated together, providing
the service temperature is moderate.
 A number of alternative laminating materials are also available, collectively
known as ‘cast in place’ (CIP), ‘cold pour’ or ‘resin’ laminates.
 These all have the advantage for the processor of being usable with very little
investment in equipment.
 Cast in place interlayers may be chemically cured, such as two-part acrylic
(PMMA) or two-part acrylate, polymetyl methacrylate, or single-part resins
cured by ultra-violet light (UV), which are for the most part acrylic/acrylate.
 Additional layers of material can be incorporated into the laminating process,
to enhance technical performance or provide decoration. Multi-layer drawn
polyester films provide a dimensionally stable substrate for coating and
printing, which can be laminated between glass using two layers of PVB.
 Decorative materials like fine fabrics, thin wood veneers, metal mesh,
expanded metal and even leaves, have also been laminated between glasses,
generally by the vacuum bag process.

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 Glass lecture notes 2016

Insulating unit manufacture

 Solid glass is a poor conductor of heat compared to metals, but not an

adequate insulator for the level of thermal performance required of modern
buildings.
 The addition of layers of plastics by laminating does not enhance the
thermal performance to any useful degree, so the majority of glass
currently used in building façades is in the form of insulating glazing units
(IGU), either double- or triple-glazed.
 The idea of an IGU is to trap a layer of dry air or gas between panes of
glass and permanently seal the perimeter to prevent the gas escaping and to
prevent moisture penetrating into the dry cavity.
 It is important to keep the gas in the cavity dry because the outer pane of
glass will reach low temperatures during cold weather and condensation
would form on its inside face unless the moisture had been removed.
 The width of the cavity should be sufficient to provide an insulating layer of
still air or gas, but not so wide that convection currents can become
established, which would reduce the insulation effect by transferring heat
between the panes.
 The spacer between the panes contains a desiccant material to absorb
moisture from the air trapped in the cavity when the unit is assembled.
 Desiccants were originally silica gel but are now ‘molecular sieve’ materials
that can absorb large quantities of moisture and lower the dew point inside
the unit to around -80°C when first sealed.
 The low humidity within a unit creates a large vapour pressure difference
between outside and inside the cavity, which drives moisture past or through
the seal materials over time.
 The primary vapour seal between the metal spacer and the glass is a bead of
poly-isobutylene (PIB) in a good quality unit because PIB has very low vapour
permeability and remains sticky and flexible over a wide range of
temperatures.
 The bead of PIB, also known simply as ‘butyl’ has to be continuous and to
close any junctions in the spacer to create a complete seal (Fig. 57.8).
 Changes in the relative pressure between the inside and outside of the unit
tend to force the glass away from the butyl primary seal on the spacer, so a

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‘secondary sealant’ is used to hold the two panes together and locate the
spacer.

 Polysulphide secondary sealants are popular for units that will be framed so
that the polysulphide will not be exposed to UV radiation, which breaks down its
adhesion to glass, and some polyurethane sealants are used for the same
purpose.
 Units whose edges will be exposed to sunlight, for frameless glazing or
structural silicone glazing, for example, are sealed with silicone secondary
sealants, which are resistant to UV but often tend to be more flexible.
 Extruded aluminium spacers are increasingly being replaced with folded
stainless steel, pultruded fibre-reinforced plastics or polymer foam spacers,
which have reduced thermal conductivity.
 These types are collectively known as ‘warm-edge’ spacers because they reduce
the cold-edge effect that results from using a conductive metal spacer, and
they have a range of thermal performance and a variety of individual
advantages.
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Fire-resisting glasses

 The process of making wired glass was described above, and it is still
commonly used for smaller panes where integrity against fire is required and
appearance is not paramount.
 Non-wired fire-resisting glasses fall broadly into three performance groups
and two different technology groups.
 The performance of fire-resisting glass is classified according to BS EN 357
in terms of ‘integrity only’ (E), ‘integrity with radiation protection’ (EW) and
‘integrity with insulation’ (EI).
 If a glass prevents the passage of smoke and flame for a specified period
under test conditions then it can be classified as providing ‘integrity’ for the
given period – 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 120 minutes, for example. Higher-
performing ‘integrity and insulation’ glasses have an insulating effect and
prevent the non-fire side of the glass rising to dangerous temperatures that
would prevent people passing by the outside during a fire.
 Bororsilicate glass is successful at providing ‘integrity only’ protection,
because it has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than soda lime glass,
so it is able to resist more severe thermal shock and it is usually toughened,
which further increases its thermal shock resistance.
 Toughened borosilicate has been successfully fire tested in certain sizes up
to 60 minutes when framed on top and bottom edges only, with special
sealant in the butt joint between panes.
 Some laminated soda lime glass products incorporating mineral based
interlayers are able to provide 60 or 120 minutes integrity when the
interlayer foams to provide the second layer of glass with enough protection
to control thermal shock.
 There are also some fire-resistant products that are essentially highly
toughened soda lime glass with smooth edge work in narrow frames that
maximize the strength of the glass and minimise the thermal shock it
experiences during the heating phase of a fire test.
 Multiple layers of annealed low-iron glass, laminated with a transparent layer
of hydrated salts, can provide a combination of integrity and insulation.
 When exposed to fire, the hydrated salt interlayer turns into a foam
(intumesces) and expands as the glass softens.

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 The foamed interlayer insulates subsequent layers of glass and blocks the
transfer of radiant heat, so that the non-fire side of the glass does not
present a burn hazard.
 This kind of glass can be used to protect an escape route past a window or
glass screen because the foamed interlayer prevents the passage of heat
and masks the fire from view.
 Other products consisting of two layers of glass enclosing a thick
intumescent gel provide similar performance.
 Hardwood frames with deep rebates or steel frames covered in thermal
insulation are the preferred forms of fire framing, and the combination of
glass and framing is crucial at any particular size of panel and duration of
fire resistance.

Physical properties

 Density, thermal expansion coefficient, thermal conductivity, emissivity

and selectivity of coated glasses
 Float glass produced in other parts of the world may vary in colour but the
physical properties are very similar.
 The properties are summarised in Table 58.1. Rolled plate glass and drawn
sheet glass have slightly higher densities because the viscosity required for
those processes is higher, but this is unlikely to be significant in design.

Mechanical properties

Patterns of breakage of glass

 The three commonly used heat-treatment conditions of soda lime glass are
most clearly distinguished by the manner in which they break.
 Annealed glass, which is the standard condition in which it is manufactured,
stocked and cut, has a characteristic bending strength of about 45 MPa
(not a design value).

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 When broken, cracks run as far as they are driven by the applied force,
which may be low, such as a thermal stress, or high such as from impact or
wind pressure, in which case the cracks branch and propagate to the edges
of the pane (Fig. 58.1).

Fig. 58.1 Breakage pattern of annealed glass.

 Heat-strengthened glass, produced to BS EN 1863, has a finely balanced
level of residual stress, such that its characteristic bending strength is at
least 70 MPa (not a design value), but propagating cracks do not branch so
that often fragments or ‘islands’ are produced, which could become
displaced from the broken pane.
 The residual stress of heat-strengthened glass ensures that any cracks will
propagate to the edges, where compressive stress along the edge often
causes the crack to branch by 180º and run parallel for a short distance
before breaking out.

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 Toughened glass, also known as ‘fully tempered’, whether heat soaked or not,
should break into a large number of roughly cubic fragments (Fig. 58.2).

Fig. 58.2 Breakage pattern of toughened glass.

 The size of the fragments is related to the thickness by the standards BS EN

12150 and BS EN 14179. For example, 10 mm glass should break into not less
than 40 fragments in a 50 mm square within 5 minutes of breaking.

Strength of glass

 Glass has a high theoretical strength (over 30 GPa) because of strong bonds
between its molecules. but, the practical strength is determined by brittle
fracture originating at surface defects.
 The absence of crystalline structure prevents plastic flow on a macro scale
and so glass exhibits virtually perfect linear elastic behavior until brittle
fracture occurs.
 When glass is tested to destruction it is common to obtain results
considerably higher than the design stress, or even the characteristic stress,
because the surface condition of the test sample is in a better condition than
we can assume it will be after many years in service.
 On the surface of a glass plate there will be a range of flaws such as
scratches or pits
Static fatigue
 Soda lime glass is particularly prone to a type of stress corrosion cracking
known as ‘static fatigue’ that makes it weaker under continuous loading than
under short-term load.

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 Although glass is brittle, it is actually more resistant to a short-term load like

the impact of a football than a long-term load like the pressure of water in a
fish tank.
 Water molecules from the environment can diffuse down a crack in the glass.
At the very tip of a crack, if the individual bonds between atoms that are
resisting its progress are under enough tension, water molecules can attach
themselves and break the bonds, allowing the crack to grow minutely.
 This process of slow crack growth can start and stop with variations in loading,
and can go undetected for long periods.
 The strength of glass is found to be highest when measured rapidly because
surface flaws under stress will grow, so the strength is usually expressed as
the ‘short-term strength’ or ‘sixty-second strength’.
 Any value of glass strength that is not qualified with the duration of loading
should be treated with suspicion.
 When the pre-existing flaws grow slowly by static fatigue, their stress
intensity increases at an accelerating rate until KI ≥ KIc and the glass cracks
visibly, and usually audibly.
 There is a threshold stress intensity, KI0, below which a flaw will not grow,
which is around 0.25 MPa m½. Some glass design methods use a factor of
between 2.6 and 3.0 to reduce the short-term strength when considering long-
term loads.
 The relationship between strengths of glass measured over different time
periods of steadily increasing load until failure was represented by Charles
(1958), in his classic work on why glass is weak when loaded for long duration,
with the following relationship: sf2 = sf1(t1/t2)1/n where n is a material
factor, found to be 16 for float glass in air, and t1 and t2 are the times to
failure in seconds.
Post-breakage characteristics of laminated glass combinations
 Laminated glass can consist of any combination of processed glass types with a
choice of interlayers with different properties,

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Fig. 58.4 Breakage pattern of laminated annealed glass.

 The following combinations are all described assuming a typical PVB interlayer.

Annealed/annealed

 This is by far the most common combination and is usually described just by
the generic term ‘laminated glass’, and it is the standard material for vehicle
front windscreens.
 If it is broken by a softbody impact, a pattern of cracks like a spider’s web is
formed (Fig. 58.4).
 Radial cracks caused by bending stress and membrane stress in the glass panes
are crossed by circumferential cracks where the triangular shards are
subjected to bending stress.
 Hard-body impact may create a small star of cracks or a ‘Hertzian cone’ if the
projectile is fast moving.
 The cracks in each layer of the laminate tend to follow similar paths if the
breaking force is high, but can deviate when the applied load is less.
 Thermal fracture from edge damage to laminated glass will often break both
plies from the same location, with the individual cracks following different
paths.
 If the edge is undamaged, thermal stress may generate cracks from different
places in the two plies, or only in one ply.
Heat strengthened/heat strengthened
 This combination tends to behave similarly to annealed/annealed because of
the similar breakage characteristics of the glass types.
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 Glass lecture notes 2016

 This gives the laminated combination a good degree of stability and the
capacity to carry small loads once both layers of glass are broken.
 It is commonly used for glass floors, particularly for outside applications
where thermal shock resistance is required and the breakage pattern similar to
that of annealed glass would be preferred to that of toughened glass.

Toughened/toughened

 This combination offers high ultimate strength but little residual strength
after both leaves are broken.
 When toughened glass fragments it is able to resist compressive loads, but the
small particles do nothing to transfer tensile forces.
 Therefore, a broken panel can only resist bending by virtue of the tensile
capacity of the interlayer and tends to fold easily, especially when warm.
 The tear resistance of a normal PVB interlayer is rarely adequate to support a
broken panel on point fixings.

Toughened/heat strengthened

 This combination is popular in bolted, or ‘point fixed’ glazing systems, where

toughened/toughened would be at risk of tearing away from the attachment
points, particularly in inclined applications.
 The toughened glass provides high bending strength when the panel is intact,
and the heat-strengthened glass provides large chunks and unbroken zones to
lock onto the fittings after the panel is broken.

Durability

 Float glass is highly durable in most environments encountered in construction

applications, and it does not degrade or change over time, other than the
accumulation of microscopic surface damage, which reduces the strength of
new glass but tends to stabilise after several years.
 Therefore monolithic single glazing can usually be regarded as maintenance
free for the lifetime of a glazing system, aside from routine cleaning and
replacement in the event of breakage.

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 Some environments can have a detrimental effect on glass. Most notably,

alkaline conditions created by contact with cementitious materials can lead to
etching of the surface.
 Even a puddle of water on a glass roof that is too flat to drain properly can
become highly alkaline around the perimeter as it dries because some of the
alkali fluxes dissolve from the glass. This results in permanent etched marks
around the puddle.
 When glass is assembled into a double-glazed unit, the edge seals are expected
to offer a limited service life of up to 25 years or so. Similarly, interlayers in
laminated glazing may not be as durable as the glass itself owing to mechanisms
such as yellowing when exposed to UV radiation, loss of plasticisers or
delamination.

Cleaning

 Glass is usually cleaned with a solution of mild detergent in water, using a mop
and squeegee.
 The mop wets the glass and loosens the dirt, aided by the detergent, and the
squeegee is used to sweep the dirty water off the glass, leaving it dry. The
process does not use a great quantity of water, and because it is not left on
the glass, it does not matter that the water becomes dirty.
 If droplets of water are left to dry on glass, they leave faint white rings
where salts are leached from the surface and deposited as the water dries.
 Self-cleaning treatments on glass either hydrophobic or hydrophilic, rely on
regular wetting by rain to carry away dust and dirt.
 The drying out of droplets is avoided, either by forcing them to run off as
beads or by drawing them out over the surface of the glass until dry, according
to the technology employed.
Protection on site
 Glass can easily be damaged on a construction site by impact, particularly on
the edges and corners, and minor damage before glazing can result in
premature failure in service when thermal and other stresses start to act on
the glass.
 Welding and grinding works pose a less obvious risk to unprotected glass
because sparks, spatter and dust can fuse to the surface of glass.

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 Hot metal particles cause pits and can initiate vents (cracks) into the surface,
which may substantially weaken glass, cause scratching when dislodged by
window cleaning, or create rust stains when exposed to the weather.
 Stacked glass also has to be kept dry because it can be permanently marked if
wetted when in contact with other glass or packing materials, especially in the
presence of cementitious dust.
Failure of double glazed units
 Insulating glass units eventually absorb enough moisture that condensation
occurs within the cavity during cold weather, which damages or negates the
effect of any coating and spoils the view out.
 The service life is affected by the quality of the original manufacturing and
the conditions in which the unit is used.
 If the edge seals are exposed to liquid water for long periods, the life can be
dramatically shortened.
Delamination of laminated glass
 Laminated glass is generally resistant to occasional wetting of its edges, if
they are allowed to dry out but, like insulating units, can be rapidly damaged by
standing in water.
 Early effects may be seen as a white ‘fogging’ of the interlayer, followed by
progressive loss of adhesion between the interlayer and the glass.

Disposal and recycling

 The raw materials required to produce glass are available in abundant supply.
However, the energy cost of actually producing glass from the raw materials is
high owing to the temperatures involved.
 Further high-energy procedures such as toughening and heat-soak testing may
be carried out once the float process has been completed.
 This should be set against the fact that glass is a durable material, and
therefore offers the benefit of prolonged, low maintenance service superior to
many of the possible alternatives.
 Such materials, for example historic stained-glass windows, can be seen in
many old buildings, where material hundreds of years old has survived since
construction and continues to function as intended.

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 The stability of glass makes disposal difficult, as it will not readily break down.
Recycling is a viable option, by crushing, re-melting and reforming waste glass
into a new product.
 This process is not difficult to carry out, however it tends to lead to
contamination and it is difficult to produce recycled glass of the highest
optical quality.
 Therefore recycled material is mostly used in non-architectural applications,
such as colored drinks bottles, where visual quality is less critical.
 Reusing crushed glass directly, for example as a secondary aggregate for
concrete or screed, is also possible though the level of demand is limited.

Reference
1. Charles RJ (1958). Static fatigue of glass, II. Journal of Applied
Physics, 29 (No. 11), 1554–1560
2. Quinn G (2007). Fractography of Ceramics and Glasses,
Special Publication 960-16, NIST, USA. (Required reading for anyone
wanting to diagnose glass breakage. Free download

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