What are Common Types of Glazing For Rooflights?
Glass is specified for various parts of buildings for optical clarity, longevity and structural properties plus it offers unobstructed views out a building plus plenty of natural light where privacy is needed.
For the majority of external envelope applications, glass is fitted as a Double Glazed Unit or Triple Glazed Unit. This provides improved resistance to the passage of heat which in turn, improves energy efficiency and comfort for users of the building. These sealed units of differing pane numbers as known collectively as Insulated Glass Units.
For our latest blog, Natralight are going to explore the common types of glass that can be used for rooflights.
Five Different Types of Glazing for Skylights
1. Annealed Glass - This product is produced in glass manufacturing and is often processed further to create other infill materials. Annealed glass is an affordable option, which can be easily cut to shape. On the flip side, it is the weakest form of glass infill available and produces large shards of sharp glass when broken. Monolithic annealed glass, as a result, cannot be referred to as a 'safety glass'.
2. Heat Strengthened Glass - This process involves applying a controlled heating and cooling process to annealed glass. Inducing a permanent surface compressive stress means a vastly improved bending strength over the annealed glass. Heat-strengthened glass does exhibit similar post-breakage behaviour to annealed glass which gives it high potential to cause serious injury. Monolithic heat-strengthened glass cannot, therefore, be classed as 'safety glass'.
3. Toughened Glass - Using a controlled heating and cooling process induces a permanent surface compressive stress which is higher than that experienced by heat strengthening, providing a bending strength of 120 N/mm².
When a toughened glass is broken it forms small and slightly rounded pieces of glass which are less likely to inflict injury. This means toughened glass can be classed as a safety glass.
4. Heat Soaked Toughened Glass - Subjecting toughened glass to sustained high temperatures allows unstable nickel sulphide inclusions which could be present, and return to a stable form. Heat soaked toughened glass is used in the same applications as toughened glass, demonstrating similar behaviour, with regards to breakage.
5. Laminated Glass - Laminated panes are manufactured by bonding a film. or interlayer between two or more plies of glass. Upon fracture, this interlayer holds the broken shards of glass which prevents injury to anyone immediately below the rooflight. The interlayer (depending on thickness, material and pane size), may also have the capability to hold a load lying on the glass which prevents falls from height through the rooflight.
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If you have any questions about the types of glazing used for our range of rooflights, please get in touch today.