PLANICLEAR is Saint-Gobain's standard float glass. It is available in an extensive range of thickness, suitable for a wide variety of applications and is the key substrate for Saint-Gobain Glass coatings.
PLANICLEAR can be toughened or laminated for safety benefits or silvered to produce mirrors. It is also suitable for screen printing, acid etching, decoration, sand blasting, lacquering or edgeworking etc.
Comfort
We spend a lot of our time indoors. There are many factors that influence how we feel inside a building, including the overall aesthetic, successful interior design, balanced noise levels or acoustics and natural levels of light. A well designed and constructed space can enhance our sense of comfort and wellbeing, helping to improve health and productivity; important across all building sectors.
PLANICLEAR can be laminated, coated or heat-treated to provide numerous comfort benefits, such as noise reduction, solar control and safe breakage.
Development
Over the past few years the glass and glazing industry has seen a growing trend towards clearer float glass substrates, in response to the demand for glass with a more neutral appearance. Product development is influenced by all sectors, including commercial projects and interior glass, along with the need for improved passive energy gain in the residential window market.
For years, Saint-Gobain Glass manufactured PLANILUX®, a high-quality clear glass. Saint-Gobain Glass UK & Ireland improved its standard, float glass offer by launching PLANICLEAR, a float glass specification with lower iron content.
PLANICLEAR delivers higher levels of light transmission than PLANILUX, making the Saint-Gobain Glass range consistent on quality, performance and aesthetics.
- Helps to increase the level of natural daylight within buildings, reducing the need for artificial lighting and creating more comfortable indoor environments.
- The lower iron content of PLANICLEAR reduces the level of green tones in the glass, providing a clearer, more neutral appearance.
Safety
Glass is a brittle material that can be processed to improve its resilience under impact. Safety glass is typically thermally toughened or laminated to ensure it breaks safely or remains intact when impacted; helping to avoid seriously injuring people in and around a building.
Thermally toughened glass protects from injury by breaking in a manner which results in small, relatively blunt, fragments. Common applications include doors, glass table tops, shower screens and overhead glazing.
Saint-Gobain manufactures STADIP® Laminated glass, assembled using a polymeric interlayer. It breaks safely by the retention of glass when fractured. This offers the added benefit of containment, and so provides a responsible option when guarding is required, or when overhead glazing needs to protect occupants from falling objects.
Thermally toughened and laminated glass variants can be combined with coatings for thermal insulation and solar control.
Security
Security glass can help protect properties against break-ins or vandalism, by delaying or even preventing, penetration through the glass.
Saint-Gobain Glass manufactures STADIP PROTECT, laminated glass products, that offer protection through the use of PVB interlayers.
Where a high level of protection is required, such as high security, bullet resistance or fire resistance, a more complex configuration will be needed. There are companies within the Saint-Gobain Group that can assist with complex glass specifications, including Vetrotech, who specialise in Fire Glass.
Sustainability
Saint-Gobain Glass is leading the industry in the design and manufacture of sustainable building glass.
Saint-Gobain Glass products are manufactured using a minimum of 30% recycled content.