Float glass: properties and advantages

Windowpanes, mirrors or designer furniture: glass is a diverse material, and we encounter it in many areas of everyday life. Float glass is used in almost all cases. This is flat glass, which is produced in a so-called float process

What is Floatglass?

Float glass is a so-called flat glass, which is produced in a float glass process. To do this, the molten glass is applied to a bath of?liquid tin. Since the glass is lighter than tin, it floats on the surface and spreads out completely evenly.

The result is glass with an?immaculately smooth surface?that is free of air pockets (such as bubbles or streaks). Because of these advantages, the float glass process has largely become established in the manufacture of flat glass.

Design furniture made of float glass: classic, noble

Float glass is also valued in furniture design: with its immaculately smooth surface and crystal-clear transparency, it is ideal for the production of fine glass furniture. The typical float glass?shimmers slightly greenish?and has a clear green to green-black color at the edges.

Glass furniture made of classic float glass exudes an elegance that goes particularly well with an?upscale furnishing style. Are you looking for a fresh, modern touch? Then it is advisable to use glass furniture made of white glass, for example the extra light Optiwhite glass.

Float glass: properties and use

As already mentioned, a major advantage of float glass is its completely even surface. In contrast to previous manufacturing processes, glass can be produced in the float process, which allows a?clear, undistorted view.

Other properties of float glass:

• robust against scratches
• weight: approx.2.5 kilograms per square meter and millimeter of glass thickness
• plane-parallel surfaces: Both sides of the glass surface are completely flat and parallel to each other.
• color: Float glass usually has a slightly greenish color, which is particularly visible on the edges. For lighter glass, special raw materials low in iron oxide are used (see also the point "Float glass vs. white glass" below).
• high light transmission: conventional float glass (single glass, glass thickness of 3-10 millimeters) has a light transmission of approx. 85-90%, with white glass the value is even higher.
• resistance to temperature changes: It is around 40 Kelvin (with simple glass without safety treatment), which means that float glass can withstand rapid temperature changes in the range of up to 40 Kelvin.

These features and a comparatively inexpensive manufacturing process have led to float glass being used in a variety of ways today. Around 95% of flat glass is float glass.

Float glass as safety glass

The float glass is?processed into safety glass?for a large number of uses. These are panes of glass that crumble into many small parts if broken, or that do not even fall apart. This minimizes the risk of injuries or serves as burglary protection.

Two important key figures for safety glass

With regard to the characteristics of safety glass, two terms often appear, which we briefly explain:

• Flexural strength: This is the maximum bending stress that a component can withstand before it breaks. They are given in Newtons per square millimeter (N / mm2). Untreated float glass has a flexural strength of approximately 45 N / mm2.
• Resistance to temperature changes: This is the temperature difference at which a material or component withstands a quick change without causing damage. They are given in Kelvin (K). For untreated float glass, the thermal shock resistance is 40 K.