Introduction
Openings from the interior to the exterior in facades are used for visibility and light. Closure of these openings was originally accomplished by opaque materials such as stone or wood.
The development of glass and use of glass in windows allowed light and visibility into the building whilst providing basic protection against wind and rain.
Modern glazing can have high functional transparency with solar heat gain reduction, visible light control, UV screening, noise abatement, forced entry and blast resistance, storm mitigation, and post breakage performance. The incorporation of these high function glazings into window systems contributes to the overall comfort of buildings and facilitates open design of interiors while maintaining the most basic requirements of openings – visibility and light.
Which products fit in?
Eastman has experience with multiple interlayer products being used in the design of the glazing for windows:
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Saflex Clear is the conventional PVB interlayer that can be used for:
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Safety: in case of glass breakage from human or accidental impact, the shards of broken glass tend to remain adhered to the interlayer providing a reduction in cutting or piercing injuries. With properly glazed laminated glass in a framing system, fall through protection may also be provided.
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Storms: laminated glass with adequate interlayer thickness may be capable of thwarting wind-borne debris from penetrating the façade and subsequently allowing destructive internal pressurization in severe windstorms such as tropical cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes. The ability of the interlayer to contain the glass shards after breakage has been demonstrated to contribute to enhanced glass retention during seismic activities as well.
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Security: a laminated glass configuration can be designed to provide a sufficient level of protection against man-made, intentional attacks including vandalism and burglary, blast and ballistic assault.
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Saflex Acoustic PVB interlayer is an engineered tri-layer interlayer that provides enhanced sound damping between 1000 – 4000 Hertz (Hz) as compared to conventional PVB interlayer. The enhanced performance may allow the glazing construction to be designed using less air space and/or thinner glass to achieve the same sound reduction rating versus conventional and historic practices.
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Saflex Solar is a solar absorbing PVB interlayer that brings improved solar control by reducing solar heat gain versus clear and conventional laminated glass without coatings. Saflex Solar can also be incorporated into single unit laminated glass with low-emissivity hard coatings or into insulating glass units (IGU) with or without low-emissivity glasses. Saflex Solar may be an effective product for reducing solar heat transfer deeper into a building and may aid in the reduction of glare.
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Vanceva® Earth Tones collection and Vanceva Colors interlayers bring forth the possibility of using a large range of color in a façade or as interior glazing. Vanceva Colors interlayers permit the design of lower transmittance or intense colors without having to increase glass thickness. Since the color is added to the laminate using the Vanceva interlayers, delays waiting for colored glass campaigns or ordering large quantities of custom colored glass can be eliminated. Both products provide the flexibility to customize or modify and improve the aesthetic of the façade.
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Saflex Structural PVB interlayer can be used in laminated glass configurations targeted for floors, stairs, fins, balustrades, guards and canopies.
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Saflex High Protection (HP) and Saflex Storm interlayers can be used when enhanced protection from tropical cyclones, typhoons and hurricane force winds and wind-borne debris are needed.
The various types of Saflex and Vanceva interlayers mentioned above can be combined between two pieces of glass or as one or more layers of the insulating glass unit (IGU) to improve the overall performance of the glazing system and contribute to the optimum performance of the window.
