GlastonAir™ air flotation technology for thin glass processing
Glaston’s latest air flotation technology development offers a revolutionary change to the glass tempering business by overcoming some of the essential technical issues associated with thin glass tempering. GlastonAir™ is a flexible concept that allows glass to be tempered to norms comparable to the 3 mm EN standard, also when it comes to fragmentation.
The GlastonAir™ concept offers the opportunity to create a new standard wherever excellent optical quality is needed for 2 – 4 mm glass. This includes tempering 2 mm glass with a surface stress of over 120 MPa or heat strengthening with a surface stress of over 70 MPa.
“The greatest advantage of GlastonAir™ is that there are no roller marks or roller waves, which adds to the optical quality of the end product. The optical quality is similar to that of float quality,” says Juha Liettyä, SVP Glaston Heat Treatment.
With air flotation, it is possible to overheat the glass, thereby enabling even as low as 2 mm glass to be tempered with reasonable cooling power. By reducing the cooling power needed for tempering 3 mm (normal tempering) or 4 – 5 mm, it is possible to achieve considerable energy savings. Moreover, the stable bottom heating of the glass ensures more even end product quality.
The GlastonAir™ concept is flexible and can be applied to any new or existing continuous tempering furnace production line.
Further information: mari.lehtinen@glaston.net
Glaston Corporation
Glaston is a global company developing glass processing technology for architectural, solar, appliance and automotive applications. Our portfolio ranges from pre-processing and safety glass machines to software solutions and services. We are dedicated to our customers’ continued success and provide services for all glass processing needs with a lifecycle-long commitment in mind. For more information, please visit www.glaston.net. Glaston's share (GLA1V) is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Small Cap List.