The international universal testing standards and development of insulating glass.

At present, there are two major types of international insulating glass performance test methods and test methods for evaluating the performance of insulating glass: one is the European standard EN1279 represented by the European Union, and the other is the North American insulating glass standard ASTME2190, ASTME2189 and ASTME2188 represented by North America. These two types of insulating glass standards have been practiced for many years and evolved from different national standards based on the development of science and technology, the improvement of product quality, and the improvement of people's requirements for product quality. This article introduces the relevant content and development history of the international insulating glass standards, hoping to give some inspiration to the revision of the insulating glass standards in various regions of the world.

EN1279 insulating glass standard EN1279 standard before it officially became a European standard, it has been coordinated with various national standards many times and compared with the standards of many countries. After many discussions, it was finally accepted as an EN standard by most countries. Typically it is in line with Italian national standards.

The Italian national product certification MQV mark is difficult to be accepted as a quality mark by other European countries. 

The main reasons are:

①non-mandatory certification structure (fully voluntary); 

②reference standard UNI7171 is an invalid standard; 

③additional test standards do not refer to any official standard.

In order to modify the UNI7171 standard, the discontinued part is required to connect UNI to CENTC129. The new Italian standard will recognize the work results of WG4. With the help of MrDeChateau (the father of European architectural glass standards), the abolished part is recognized, and "MarchioUNI "Standard work can continue. In 1996, the UNI standard became an official member of the quality mark for insulating glass, which gave a new impetus to the promotion of the prEN1279 standard, and made Italy the first country to accept different parts of the prEN1279 standard, which also promoted the presence of prEN1279 in European countries. Promotion and application.

In 2000, the prEN1279 series of standards have been considered to be fully accepted by Italy, including part 6 of product control and periodic testing, the MQUNI insulating glass version that has been widely recognized in the past 7 years. The regulations still include documents, the system description of insulating glass products (the items that must be stated in the standard rules). The entire standard (prEn1279 series) consists of the following parts: prEN1279-1: architectural glass-insulating glass products-1: general rules, dimensional deviations, and Product structure regulations; prEN1279-2: architectural glass-insulating glass products-2: long-term test methods and requirements for water vapor penetration; prEN1279-3: architectural glass-insulating glass products-3: long-term gas leakage ratio and gas concentration deviation Test methods and requirements; prEN1279-4: Building glass-Insulating glass products

4: Test methods for the physical properties of edge sealant products; prEN1279-5: Building glass-Insulating glass products-5: Compatibility evaluation; prEN1279-6: Architectural glass-insulating glass products-6: factory product control and periodic testing.

Italian standard UNI regulations include many details of product structure manufacturing requirements, these details are:

1. All materials used in the product must be certified. Glass: certified according to European standards and related standards; spacer, sealant, and desiccant: certified according to the relevant parts of 1279 (valid for 5 years); in addition, the quality of each batch needs to be tested according to the corresponding procedures.

2. Insulating glass products should meet the following requirements: Minimum quantity of butyl glue: at least 1.5g/m in the length direction of each side of the aluminum strip, so that after effective hot pressing, the width of the butyl glue is at least 3mm; external secondary sealing The minimum thickness of the glue is 3mm; the quantity of desiccant: spaced aluminum strips above 10mm, each side is filled with at least 50% desiccant; aluminum strips below 10mm, at least 3 sides are filled with desiccant; non-bending pipe For traditional aluminum strips, the corners must be sealed with butyl rubber; there is no butyl rubber and secondary sealant breakage or glue breakage; for gas-filled insulating glass: the gas concentration in the cavity must be measured (at least 3 samples per day); And seal the inflatable hole.

3. Define FPC (Factory Product Control) and test, and perform in accordance with the requirements of prEN1279-6. Usually, the voluntary certification system reaches the 1+ level of CPD (Construction Product Regulation). With the initial type of test, it is checked twice a year without prior notice. According to prEN1279-2 or prEN1279-3, on-site sampling (long-term test: 4+7 weeks of maturation). Therefore, in the past few years, the second, third and fourth parts of the prEN1279 standard can be tested, as well as the sixth part of factory production control.

From the perspective of glass structure production and product characteristics, one of the most difficult to control main problems of insulating glass is the use of patterned glass, engraved glass, or polished glass on the second or third side, because such surfaces will penetrate water vapor The I value has a negative effect. The water vapor penetration I value tested for embossed insulating glass products is indeed higher, but it is still lower than the limit value.

The second is the use of color and polycarbonate spacers (PVC spacers). Butterfly binding experiments show that the adhesion between the color spacers and the sealant is very poor. Italy has done several tests using polycarbonate urethane plastic grid strips, but no positive results have been obtained. On the contrary, the moisture content of the desiccant always exceeds 0.25 after the samples made in the same factory are aged, while the pure aluminum strips are hollow. The average value of water vapor penetration I of the glass after the aging test is only 0.02.

For the insulating glass manufacturing plant, during the product quality certification verification process, the frequently occurring problems and the problems that are prone to occur during the test process are: incomplete sealing of the aluminum compartment (there is a gap); the gap between the spacer and the outside of the glass has the wrong distance (Less than 3mm); Quantity (minimum 1.5g/m), width (after 3mm lamination) and butyl rubber have poor uniformity (discontinuity) and improper lamination combination; there is no completeness between glass and sealant Bonding.

The main reason for these problems is the production of spacers, which mainly depends on the type and thickness of aluminum spacers. The width of spacers exceeds 15mm and the use of color spacers is one of the reasons for frequent problems; the second is aluminum. The problem of the spacer depends on several factors, such as the position of the spacer on the glass; the dislocation of the spacer caused by the wear of the assembly line support pulley; whether the spacer is square or not, especially the square control of the elbow spacer.

^{European Union Headquarters Building, European Union Headquarters, where the glass industry standards are formulated 1}

According to the analysis, there are two main factors affecting the water vapor penetration of insulating glass products: One is the butyl extruder: the biggest problem may be the nozzle calibration and the imbalance of the butyl extrusion quantity on both sides of the spacer (EN standard It stipulates that the butyl rubber extruder must be inspected many times a day) if the butyl extruder is coating by automatic insulating glass butyl extruder coating machine or not; the second is the type of pressing: roller presses and flat presses are significantly different, all vertical roller presses must be improved before they can be produced, and only flat presses can be obtained Satisfying result.

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