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