European Standard for Insulating Glass Units (prEn 1279 series)

Pietro Ungarelli, Gianluca d'Emanuele

Standard harmonisation has been in the last ten years a fundamental target for European Commission; mandate to CEN has been given in order to prepare European Normative covering all industrial fields.

Technical Committee CEN/TC 129 "Glass in Buildings" has recently finalised his work and all technical drafts for Insulating Glass Units have been approved becoming EN Standards:
- EN 1279-1: Glass in Building – Insulating glass units – Part 1: Generalities, dimensional tolerances
and rules for the system description
- EN 1279-2: Glass in Building – Insulating glass units – Part 2: Long term test method and requirements for moisture penetration
- EN 1279-3: Glass in Building – Insulating glass units – Part 3: Long term test method and requirements for gas leakage rate and for gas concentration tolerances
- EN 1279-4: Glass in Building – Insulating glass units – Part 4: Methods of test for the physical
attributes of edge seals
- EN 1279-6: Glass in Building – Insulating glass units – Part 6: Factory production control and periodic tests

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn.

It is time therefore for all producers to approach standard contents; this paper will give basic information on Factory Production Control requirements, Inspection and Testing methods focusing on Sealant.

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