Research on Thin Glass-Polycarbonate Composite Panels

Abstract

Glass, particularly in architectural design, expresses lightness and modernity. By rising glass surfaces of facades in buildings with high safety requirements, glass works as security glazing. Requirements of security glazing increase constantly. However, single glass panes do not fulfil the demands on these high technology products. Thereby, laminated glass or insulated glass are used to solve problems of the specifications in view of fire, heat, noise, sound and sun protection as well as safety, energy, design or media. The combination of different materials in a composite panel permits the optimisation in consideration of requested structural or mechanical properties. In this case, the lamination of brittle glass with ductile polycarbonate enables innovative composite panels, which extends the range of glazing with security relevant applications. Glass-polycarbonate composite panels are generally defined with two outer glass panes and one or more inner polycarbonate sheets, laminated with polymeric interlayers. The combination of these two materials demonstrates a more efficient alternative to common security glazing. Continuous developments in the field of thin glass result in more and more applications beyond the usage in smartphones or tablets. Large-sized thin glasses with a nominal thickness of 2 mm or less are for some time available and already used in science and technology. Applications of thin glass in the building sector demand to analyse the required material properties and to combine thin glass panes with additional layers due to its low geometrical stiffness. An option for applications of large-sized thin glass panes presents the lamination with polycarbonate. Thin glass substitute the two outer glass panes in glass-polycarbonate composite panels. Therefore, thin glass-polycarbonate composite panels are slighter than common security glazing. Several options for using thin glass in architecture and the lamination with polycarbonate are described as well as the required tests for using as laminated safety glass and security glass with resistance against manual attack.