Opportunities for the Welding and Hot-Shaping of Borosilicate Glass Tubes in Building Structural Applications

Freek Bos & Cecile Giezen & Fred Veer, TU Delft Faculty of Architecture, the Netherlands

Structurally used tubular glass provides stunning possibilities for architectural applications, which have hardly been explored yet. However, little is known about glass welding for the building industry. Especially the bond strength is an important unknown, as is the reliability. The potential of welding for structural applications of glass tubes has been explored by producing a case-study design alternative for an (existing) façade structure. Theory on welding is reviewed and the practical possibilities of shaping by existing commercial firms explored. Experimental research, carried out on welded specimens with various geometries, is presented as well as a facade structure design, based on 3D cross-shaped welded glass components. This study shows welding provides ample design possibilities without significantly compromising the component strength.

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The Authors

Mr. Freek Bos ir. Delft University of Technology Freek Bos works as a Ph.D. researcher at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture, where he graduated in 2002 (specializing in both Building Technology and Architecture) on form-finding as a design tool f... Read more