Pilkington

As a leading global glass manufacturer, Pilkington provides the broadest range of glass products available in the world today. Continuous product innovation ensures the development of the most appropriate products for North America and the global marketplace. Glass plays a significant role in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Glass also helps control the flow of heat, UV rays, and glare while letting light into a building, increasing the overall comfort and productivity of its occupants. Pilkington is committed to being at the forefront of these developments.

Pilkington – First in Glass™

The selection of glass products has become more complex since Pilkington invented the float glass process in 1952. The property of glass has become increasingly multifaceted with the ability to perform a wide variety of functions. The key to these developments has been glass's unique attributes of transmitting daylight and mediating the environment to provide a better place in which to live and work.

Float Glass

The float glass process was invented by Pilkington and sets the world standard for the production of high quality glass. It is manufactured by melting sand, soda ash, dolomite and limestone together and produces a continuous 12-foot wide glass ribbon. The molten glass flows from the furnace and "floats" over a bed of molten tin. It is then carefully cooled to anneal the glass – a process that minimizes the internal stresses enabling it to be cut.

The Pilkington float glass process is renowned for flatness and optical clarity. The glass product is available in clear, tinted, high performance tinted, ultra-clear low iron and textured glass.

Coated Glass

On-line pyrolytic hard coatings are produced by depositing microscopically thin layers of metallic oxides by the chemical vapor deposition process during float glass manufacturing. This process produces extremely durable coated products that can easily be handled, transported and processed. These products typically combine low emissivity, solar control, and can also provide a wide range of properties from low reflection to self-cleaning. Pilkington is the industry leader in pyrolytic coating technology.

The Pilkington Pyrolytic Advantage

Whether you select PilkingtonEclipse Advantage™ Solar Control Low-E, PilkingtonSolar-E™ Solar Control Low-E or PilkingtonEnergy Advantage™ Low-E Glass, you'll have the benefits of Pilkington patented pyrolytic technology and the very practical advantages that it brings to every project.

Most Low-E glass is produced by applying a special coating to sheets of finished glass in a process called sputter coating. These "soft coat" products have some limitations. The coating can be scratched or damaged, and can potentially deteriorate with exposure to air, giving the product a limited shelf life. Much of the fabrication process, including bending and tempering, must often be done before the glass is coated. Edge deletion is usually recommended for soft coat insulating glass units.

But Pilkington Low-E glass products are produced by a patented pyrolitic process that exposes hot glass to chemical vapors during the actual float glass production, where they bond to the glass on the molecular level.

Having a hard "pyrolytic" surface fired on at over 1200°F, pyrolytic products are durable, bendable and post-temperable. In addition because the pyrolytic surface doesn't degrade like a sputtered coating, it can be warehoused locally for availability, reducing project lead times across the country and around the world.

Pilkington LEEDing the Way

Pilkington has been proud to be the technological leader in glass manufacturing for many years. Whether it's improving processes such as the float glass manufacturing; which produces more than 95 percent of glass worldwide, advancing coating technologies (pyrolytic or "hard-coat" coatings that require significantly less energy to make), or our wide range of Solar and Thermal Control glass products, Pilkington is proud to lead in areas of environmental concern, sustainability and green building initiatives.

Pilkington
811 Madison Avenue
Toledo, OH 43604-5684
Tel: (419) 247-3731
Fax: (419) 247-4517
Web site: http://www.pilkington.com/na