Silicone Structural Glazing

A structural glazing façade is designed as an aluminium-adapter-framework glued together with a special insulating glass unit using structural glazing silicones. This aluminium-glass-system is suspended into a conventional curtain wall construction. From the exterior side only glass and – depending on the system – weather sealant are visible.

Main features:

• Joining technique appropriate for the material involved
• No microstructural change of parts (e.g. as per welding)
• Load transferring function
• No local stress peaks by planar transfer of forces trough planar adhesive area
• Ageing stability of silicone (adhesion, UV resistance, temp. resistance)
• Safety at extreme mechanical loads (earth quakes, tropical cyclones, explosions, etc.)

A typical structural glazing junction consists of

• Structural bonding providing a static effective connection
• Insulating glass edge seal adapted on wind and dead loads and with density function
• Weather seal

The structural silicones provide a high sheer and Young’s modulus for compensation or transferring

• Dynamic loads (wind suction, wind pressure, traffic loads)
• Static loads (dead and snow loads)
• Differences in the thermal dilatations of involved materials such as glass and aluminium