Investigations on U-shaped glass with a polyurethane lacquer for splinter shield

Dr. Peter Hof, Staatliche Materialprüfungsanstalt Darmstadt (State Material Testing Institute)

U-Shaped glass is becoming more and more popular in architecture. The thermal transmission coefficient is not as good as other glazings are. U-shaped glass will be often built as a second skin façade for optical reasons. The investigations concern U-shaped glass channels that are supported in an unusual and innovative way without any sealing between the glass elements. Because of the missing sealing, there is no significant load bearing capacity after a potential breakage of one single U-shaped glass element. Therefore, a coating made of a lacquer for splinter shielding made from polyurethane with a thickness of 200 μm to 400 μm is planned to be applied to the glass.

In this essay I will report on the various experiments that were done to investigate the interaction between the lacquer and its adjacent materials. Further tests covered determination of the load bearing capacity, as well as pulling and peeling tests with different preconditionings, for example UV-light or detergents, in order to test the material properties of the coating. Moreover soft and hard body impact tests were carried out. The material properties were verified and it was proved that the coating provides a higher load bearing capacity after breakage. So the application of the coating was found to be a very good way to improve the glass structure and satisfy the safety requirements.

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The Authors

Peter Hof Dr.-Ing. Staatliche Materialprüfungsanstalt Darmstadt Dr.-Ing. Peter Hof, born 1968, received his civil engineering degree from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany in 1995. After being Project manager for structural engineering since 2000 he was ... Read more