24
Feb
2021

3 Best Glass Types For Aluminium Security Doors And Windows

The type of glass you choose for your aluminium windows and doors plays a vital role in ensuring better home security and architectural aesthetics. With the advent of technology, you can now find a wide variety of glass that comes with a host of benefits. For example, glass that is penetration-resistance, glass that reduces noise pollution and energy-efficient glass. For aluminium windows and doors, three glass types are highly suitable: float glass, laminated glass, and tempered glass.

 

Float Glass

Float glass is named after its manufacturing process, which consists of “floating” molten glass from a furnace into a molten tin bath. This process gives the glass sheet a uniform thickness and a very flat surface, resulting in a superbly smooth and clear glass that can be widely used in different window and door applications.

Float glass is durable and strong. It has excellent density, which makes it a great choice for your interior and exterior spaces. It is also an energy-efficient glass – you can use float glass to make low-E glass by coating it with metal oxides. Low-E glass helps to keep interiors cool by shielding off strong sunlight, thus reducing the need for air-conditioning and lowering energy costs. When used as a glass for aluminium doors or windows, float glass also offers a sleek and sophisticated look.

 

Laminated Glass   

Known as a “glass sandwich”, laminated glass is made from two or more layers of glass with a layer of resin, commonly polyvinyl butyral (PVB), in between. The PVB interlayer in the centre, which bonds the glass panes together, produces a high-strength glass that does not shatter easily. Even if it breaks, the broken glass will be contained within the PVB layer. This interlayer creates a strong barrier against break-ins, thus making laminated glass an excellent safety glass for aluminium windows and doors.

Apart from its security features, laminated glass also offers soundproofing benefits and helps with reducing transmission of UV rays from the outdoors. This glass is also hardy against changes in temperature and pressure. It is weather-resistant yet allows natural light to come through, which makes it an ideal glass for doors and windows. Other applications of laminated glass include skylights, curtain walls, glass facades, and glass roofs.

Tempered Glass

Strong and robust, tempered (or toughened) glass is a type of safety glass ideal for home security. Made from standard glass that has gone through a thermal tempering process, tempered glass is known to be approximately four times stronger than regular or annealed glass.

Due to its high strength, tempered glass withstands impact tremendously well, which means it is almost impenetrable. When incorporated into your security windows and doors, this feature deters intruders from breaking in, enhancing your home safety effectively. Tempered glass is also resistant to many different conditions, for example, harsh weather conditions, wear-and-tear, scratches, and extreme temperature changes. If it does break, tempered glass fractures into small, blunt, and relatively harmless pieces, which reduces the risk of injuries.

Whether you opt for float glass, laminated glass, or tempered glass, it’s important to use them with a high-quality door or window. At Window Elements, their selection of premium aluminium security doors and windows can be further enhanced with different glass types to ensure better home safety and sleeker aesthetics. For example, their Optima doors and windows series comes in an array of styles, shapes and sizes, which can be customised with a glass of your choice. For enhanced security, their ArxTech doors and windows feature a high-performance security screen or mesh, which when combined with high-quality safety glass, will give you an incredibly resilient and strong barrier that withstands any break-in attempts.