GLASS AS A BUILDING

MATERIAL

PRESENTED BY: MR. ALSTON FERNANDES

 GLASS
 Glass is an amorphous (non- crystalline) solid which is often transparent and has
widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage in things like window panes.

ARCHITECTURAL GLASS
 Used as a building material.
 Used as transparent glazing material in the
building envelope, including windows in the
external walls.
 Also used for internal partitions and as an
architectural feature.
 Glass is often of a safety type, in which include
reinforced, toughened and laminated glass.
HOW GLASS IS USED IN CONSTRUCTION
 TYPES OF GLASSES

1. Plate
2. Tinted
3. Decorative
4. Reinforced
5. Laminated Glass Block
6. Fiber Glass
7. Glass Murals
8. Partially Colored Glass
9. Glass Etching
 PLATED GLASS
There are two types of flat glass
1. The float
2. The printed glass.

Float glass:
 Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating
molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically
tin, although lead and various low melting point
alloys were used in the past.
 This method gives the sheet uniform thickness
and very flat surfaces.
 It is the ideal glass for application that demand
perfect visibility.
 Modern windows are made from float glass.
Most float glass is soda-lime glass, but
relatively minor quantities of specialty.
 PLATED GLASS
There are two types of flat glass
1. The float
2. The printed glass.

Float glass:
 The float glass is a transparent, colorless or colored
glass, with uniform thickness and homogeneous
mass.
 It is the ideal glass for application that demand
perfect visibility, as it does not present optical
distortion and has high light transmission.
 It can be: laminated, tempered glass, curved,
screen-printed glass and used in double glazing.
 It is used in automotive industry, of household
appliances, civil construction, furniture and
decoration.
 PLATED GLASS
There are two types of flat glass
1. The float
2. The printed glass.

Printed glass:
 The printed glass is a translucent flat glass,
coloured or colourless, which receives the printing
of a pattern (drawing) when is leaving the furnace.
 It is used in Construction, household, appliances,
furniture and decoration
 TINTED GLASS
 Tinted glass is made by adding small amounts of metal
oxide to the glass composition.
 The common colours tinted are grey, green, bronze and
blue.
 Besides its artistic qualities, is also has different properties
such as heat and light reflection, heat and light
transmission, ultraviolet transmission, and insulation.

REINFORCED GLASS
 Toughened glass acquires a degree of strength for excess of
the strength of normal glass sheet or plate glass, which if
broken shatters into small and comparatively harmless pieces.
 It is claimed that the resistance to mechanical stock of
toughened plate glass is 4 to 5 times more than that of
ordinary plate glass. A toughened glass has better resistance
to the vibration, mechanical shock and abrasion.
 REINFORCED GLASS
Characteristics of Toughened Glass

 Toughened glass is four to five times stronger than

annealed glass of the same size and thickness against
impact.
 Toughened glass has higher thermal strength and can
withstand a high temperature differential upto 250°C.
 Toughened glass is considered as safety glass. It is
difficult to break and even in the event of a breakage,
disintegrates into small globules, which are relatively
harmless.

Strength & Safety Consideration

 Four to five times stronger than annealed glass Two to

three times stronger than heat strengthened glass
Fragments into small, relatively harmless pieces,
reducing the likelihood of injury
 LAMINATED GLASS
 This type of glass is made by sandwiching glass panels
within a protective layer.
 Laminated Glass The laminated glass is composed by
two glass plates intercalated by a plastic skin of great
resistance (PVB - polyvinyl butyral)
 It is heavier than normal glass and may cause optical
distortions as well.
 It is tough and protects from UV radiation (99%) and
insulates sound by 50%.
 Used in glass facades, aquariums, bridges, staircases,
floor slabs, etc.
 FIBER GLASS
 Fiberglass is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic
using glass fiber
 The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a
sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass
cloth. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer
matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers
such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a
thermoplastic.
 Being a plastic polymer, fiberglass can be easily molded
into shapes, configurations, and structures that would
be difficult or expensive to do with other construction
materials. This allows for a great level of architectural
applications and methods in which fiberglass can be
utilized.
 PARTIALLY COLORED GLASS
 Stained glass, in the arts, the coloured glass used
for making decorative windows and other objects
through which light passes.
 All coloured glass is ―stained,‖ or coloured by the
addition of various metallic oxides while it is in a
molten state.
 Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has
been applied almost exclusively to the windows of
churches and other significant religious buildings.
 Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has
been applied almost exclusively to the windows of
churches and other significant religious buildings
 The term stained glass is also applied to windows in
enamelled glass in which the colours have been
painted onto the glass and then fused to the glass in
a kiln
 GLASS ETCHING
 Glass etching comprises the techniques of creating
art on the surface of glass by applying acidic,
caustic, or abrasive substances.
 It is a glass worked with jets of sand grains that
mechanically attack the glass, transforming it in
translucent and slightly rough. It is used in furniture
and decoration.

 Surface etching: Surface etching is the most

popular, easiest, and most beginner friendly of the
etching techniques. The blasting is all done in one
stage, which means that the design produced looks
two dimensional and only has two shades of color.
Usually, the etched sections look ―frosty white,‖ and
the unetched sections look dark in comparison
 PROPERTIES
 Transparency: This property allows visual connection with the outside world. Its transparency
can be permanently altered by adding admixtures to the initial batch mix. By the advent of
technology clear glass panels used in buildings can be made opaque. (Electro chromatic
glazing)
 U value: The U-value is the measure of how much heat is transferred through the window. The
lower the U-value the better the insulation properties of the glass– the better it is at keeping
the heat or cold out.
 Strength: Glass is a brittle material but with the advent of science and technology, certain
laminates and admixtures can increase its modulus of rupture( ability to resist deformation
under load).
 Greenhouse effect: The greenhouse effect refers to circumstances where the short
wavelengths of visible light from the sun pass through glass and are absorbed, but the longer
infrared re-radiation from the heated objects are unable to pass through the glass. This
trapping leads to more heating and a higher resultant temperature.
 Workability: It is capable of being worked in many ways. It can be blown, drawn or pressed. It is
possible to obtain glass with diversified properties- clear, colorless, diffused and stained. Glas
can also bewelded by fusion..
 APPLICATIONS
 Facades and curtain walls
 Stair case and balcony rails.
 Bathroom cubicles
 Office/home partitioning
 Office/home furniture etc.
 Aquariums
Curtain walls
 Frameless glass doors
 Pulpits Frameless glass door

Staircase Balcony Bathroom

 GLASS FABRICATION
 Common materials used in glass fabrication include silica sand, limestone, soda ash,
quartz, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, aluminosilicate, borosilicate, dichroic,
germanium, glass ceramic, sulfide, fluoride glass, and more.
 The procedure adopted in the manufacture of glass may broadly be divided into the
following five stages:
 Collection of Raw Materials
 Preparation of Batch
 Melting in Furnace
 Fabrication
 Annealing.
 Different ways of fabrication:
1. Blowing
2. Casting
3. Drawing
4. Pressing
5. Rolling
6. Spinning.
 GLASS FABRICATION
 Engineering is involved in most every aspect of glass fabrication. An array of software
technologies are used to provide many glass fabrication services.
 The use of precision machining is also used extensively throughout the glass fabrication
process from start to finish.
 Forming, sometimes called bending, is accomplished by heating glass to a plastic state
to be physical manipulated by hand or machine.
 Encapsulation, commonly used in automotive glass, involves injecting polymeric material
around a glass insert for increased strength and protection.
 Beveling is the process of cutting the border of a piece of glass to create an angled
surface around the edge.
 Extrusion, another technique used often in auto glass, creates a watertight seal between
glass and another material (like the rubber around your windshield).
 Molding, also known as pressing, involves heating glass to a liquid state and pouring it
into a mold so it solidifies in the shape of the mold.