Sound insulation and energy-saving, selection of insulating laminated glass for doors and windows

The insulating laminated glass is a composite glass product that is composed of 3 pieces of glass to form a insulating layer + a laminated layer (of course, no matter how high the budget and demand are, it can be increased further, such as double laminated glass / double laminated glass plastic insulating glass).

^{The left insulating laminated glass sample angle, the right double insulating laminated glass sample angle}

It can be said to be the "better choose" in home improvement door and window glass.

Compared with ordinary insulating glass, due to the increase in the self-weight of the glass and the coincidence effect of the laminated glass away from the medium and low-frequency traffic noise, the glass has a better sound insulation effect and also brings safety properties. Compared with ordinary laminated glass, due to the low thermal conductivity of air in the hollow layer, the energy-saving effect is more excellent.

The insulating laminated glass has therefore become a new favorite among many consumers who pursue the performance of doors and windows.

But as a relatively new thing, consumers and even practitioners have some doubts: 

• When should the hollow laminated glass be used? 
• How to use it well? 
• Should the laminated surface be placed indoors or outdoors? 
• How to choose the thickness of glass, a laminated layer, and a hollow layer? etc.

In this article, Jinan LIJIANG Glass will take you to understand:

1. Where is the insulating laminated glass often used?

There are three reasons for the most insulating glue for home decoration:

1.1 The home is a mid-to-high-rise floor, and tempered insulating glass is standard when purchasing the exterior doors and windows. However, consumers consider the risk of self-explosion of the glass, so they have added laminated glass for safety reasons.

1.2 The home is facing the street/road / elevated, mainly to improve the sound insulation effect of doors and windows, and upgrade the insulating glass to insulating laminated glass.

1.3 The city where the city is located is not a low-latitude city with a suitable climate for the four seasons. The home should be a closed sunroom, and the top surface is glass, and the top surface is not used as a suspended ceiling, and the sunroom has a heavy life attribute (not washing, such as bedrooms, tea rooms, etc.), to improve the thermal insulation performance, the standard laminated glass on the top surface is added to insulating laminated glass.

^{Figure 2 The insulating laminated glass for home decoration 1}

2. The selection of the installation position of the laminated layer from the insulating laminated glass

When using the insulating laminated glass, due to the different focus on performance, the placement of the laminated layer is particular about:

2.1 When the glass is used on the top surface of the sunroom, there is no objection. The laminated surface must be installed downwards (indoors) to prevent accidents caused by broken pieces of glass.

2.2 When glass is used on the facade of doors and windows, in most cases, the laminated surface is installed on the outdoor side to meet the principle of safety first (to avoid the falling of fragments and hurting people when other situations such as self-explosion of glass occur).

2.3 When glass is used on the facade of doors and windows, but the floor is low or there is no risk of glass injuring people (villa/self-built house), the laminated surface can be installed indoors to obtain relatively better thermal insulation performance (summer The temperature of the glass with the laminated surface indoors will be lower than that of the laminated surface outside).

^{Figure 3 The installation position of the laminated layer from the insulating laminated glass}

3. The thickness selection of glass, laminated layer, and hollow layer from the insulating laminated glass

The choice of door and window glass thickness is affected by door and window products (restricted by notches), area size, and performance pursuit. Generally speaking:

3.1 The size of the glass area directly determines the thickness of a single piece of glass, because, with the increase of the glass area, the rigidity and deflection of the glass must be simultaneously improved by increasing the glass thickness (laminated glass and film thickness) to achieve safe use. 

^{Table 1 The maximum allowable area of safety glass}

As shown in the figure before, the specification requires a single piece of glass no more than 2 m², use 5 mm, and a single piece of glass no more than 3 m², use 6 mm ...That is, if a 3 m² piece of insulating glass is to be used, each piece of it must be 6 mm thick;If a piece of 5 m² laminated glass is used, the total thickness of the two pieces of laminated glass needs to be more than 8 mm (the thickness of the laminated film should be increased in multiples of 0.38);If a 3 m² hollow laminated glass is used, a single piece of insulating glass should be 6 mm, and the total thickness of the two pieces of laminated glass should be more than 6 mm;

The specification has strict requirements on thickness. In the actual home improvement door and window market, it is not necessary to fully follow this standard (of course, businesses should follow the standard), and the standard can be appropriately lowered (this article is suitable for experienced businesses who save money for customer), for example, a single piece of insulating glass below 3 m² is mostly 5 mm; Generally, the thickness of a single piece of laminated glass for home decoration starts from 5 mm (the glass deep processing factory is convenient for original film storage), and the thickness of the film starts from 0.76 mm (1.14 / 1.52 mm for large glass), and the thickness difference between the two pieces of laminated glass should not exceed 2 mm;When configuring the thickness of insulating laminated glass, the total thickness of the two pieces of laminated glass should not be too different from the thickness of a single piece of insulating glass (2 mm / 4 mm, such as 6 + 12 A + 5 + 0.76 PVB + 5 / 8 + 12 A + 5 + 0.76 PVB + 5);

Because the choice of glass area and thickness also depends on the quality of the glass, whether it is filled with inert gas, local conditions, business products, and experience, you should listen to the recommendations of the business or consult professionals when making large glass;

3.2 From the perspective of energy-saving effect, the thickness of the hollow layer should be between 9 A and 15 A (20 A, etc. also "looks like a better choice", but it is untenable). Of course, considering that the total thickness of the insulating laminated glass is relatively large (the notch limit of the glass installed in the doors and windows), and the possible large glass situation (the hollow layer of the large glass should be larger to prevent the glass from absorbing).

When consumers choose, they can consult the door and window merchants in advance for the appropriate glass configuration. The door and window manufacturers have a complete set of glass pressing lines, and the product series is large (the ratio of single window and single window, the ratio of window screen integration and window screen integration, and cannot be confused), There is a high degree of flexibility in the choice of glass configuration.

3.3 The increase of the total thickness of the glass (such as 6 + 12 A + 6 becomes 8 + 12 A + 8), the use of unequal thickness glass (such as 6 + 12 A + 6 becomes 6 + 12 A + 8), and The increase in the thickness of the plastic glass film (such as 5 + 0.76 PVB + 5 becomes 5 + 1.14 PVB +5) can improve the theoretical sound insulation effect of the glass to a certain extent (the law of quality / The frequency of occurrence of the matching effect of different thicknesses of glass is different/laminated glass Film thickness and damping effect are positively correlated).

But after all, it is invisible to the human ear (see the selection of soundproof glass above), Jinan LIJIANG Glass suggests that there is no need to consider the increase of these thicknesses to pursue the ultimate, and the overall configuration of adding glass is the first choice.

^{Figure 4 The insulating laminated glass for home decoration 2}

4. Other selection problems of the insulating laminated glass

When purchasing windows and doors, consumers will encounter many problems when choosing the insulating laminated glass (to be supplemented and summarized):

4.1 When using the insulating laminated glass at home, because the total thickness of the glass is thick (number of layers), the entire glass may have low light transmittance (thickness and multiple pieces of glass are superimposed to reduce the light transmittance of the glass), and the glass is greenish (The original piece of ordinary glass contains iron, so the thicker the glass, the more obvious the greening phenomenon).

Especially when the glass area used at home is relatively large, or when the whole house is not replaced with insulating laminated glass (for example, compared with other windows equipped with insulating glass), the naked eye will feel incongruity.

Therefore, when consumers buy, it is best to ask the merchants if they have similar physical comparisons to see their acceptance. When making glass configuration, the glass configuration of doors and windows in the same space (such as only in the living room environment) should not be too different. If you want to increase the light transmittance of the glass and reduce the greening of the glass, you can consider adding "ultra-white original film" to the glass.

^{Figure 5 The ultra-white original film glass}

4.2 About the price of insulating laminated glass: the price of insulating laminated glass is about twice that of insulating glass (the price of laminated glass and insulating glass are similar).

Its price is mainly affected by factors such as cost (such as the skyrocketing price of raw materials this year), the materials used in the deep processing factory and the quality of the factory, the amount of glass in the home, and the size of a single piece of glass (the larger the area, the more expensive).

4.3 When there are higher thermal insulation requirements at home (the K value of insulating laminated glass is similar to that of insulating glass), it is recommended to add single silver Low-e first, then double silver Low-e, and third Argon, then warm edge, and finally triple silver.

Or when the home has higher sound insulation requirements, it is recommended to add double-laminated insulating glass (low frequency, such as 5 + 0.76 PVB + 5 + 9A + 5 + 0.76 PVB + 5), or double insulating glass Laminated glass (high frequency).

5. Summary

The use of insulating laminated glass has good sound insulation performance, which can reduce the radiation of the sun. After the glass is broken, the fragments will not be scattered on the ground, but will stick to the film on the surface, and will not be hit somebody by the broken glass falling from high altitude. 

^{For more information about Jinan LIJIANG Glass insulating glass processing equipment and insulating glass processing accessories, please click here to learn more}