Float glass is manufactured by the combination and melting of sand, soda ash, limestone, dolomite and recycled glass to form a continuous glass ribbon. The molten material then “floats” across a large bed of molten tin creating two very flat surfaces. The glass begins to cool on the bed of tin; the thickness is determined by the speed at which the glass is drawn from the tin bed. After this process the glass is then cooled during the annealing process. This ensures flatness and an excellent finish on both surfaces of the glass.

Clear Float Glass
Clear Float is a transparent glass offering high light transmission. The Australian Glass Group offers the product in thicknesses of 2mm to 19mm, and it can be processed for use as single glazing, insulated glass units, laminated glass, and thermally toughened glass.

Tinted Float Glass

Tinted Float is produced by adding metal oxides during the float glass process.  The addition of the metal oxides does not affect the basic properties of glass, except:
· It will only slightly affect the visible light reflectance of the glass (by making it slightly lower than clear glass).
· The strength of the colour will deepen as the glass increases in thickness. This will decrease the light reflectance of the glass accordingly.
They come in a range of colours including grey, green, bronze and blue. Tinted glass has been developed to reduce the solar heat gain through the glass and also reduce the UV penetration and glare inside a building. Tinted glass is able to achieve this through absorbing the solar energy that hits the glass.  Because of this, tinted glass is prone to thermal stress and a thermal assessment of the site is recommended. To avoid the possibility of thermal stress tinted glass may need to be toughened.

Super Tinted Glass
Super Tinted includes products such as SuperGreen®, Atlantica®, Azuria®, SuperBlue®, SuperGrey® and Optigray®. They are an extension of the tinted glass family however, they are spectrally selective. This means that they effectively select the amount of light transmittance, UV and infra-red bands that they filter through.

SuperGreen, Atlantica, Azuria and SuperBlue allow visible light to filter through and effectively filter out UV and infra-red light. Conversely, SuperGrey and Optigray reduce the amount of light transmittance (and solar heat gain) able to filter through.

Low Iron Glass
Clear Float Glass naturally has a greenish tinge to it, which is more apparent when viewing the glass edge. The colour is due to the iron content in the sand. To increase the clarity of the glass, and reduce the greenish tinge, the iron content is significantly reduced. Products such as Diamant, Starphire and SuperClear are available brand names of Low Iron glass. They are ideal when optical clarity is paramount, such as jewellery showcases and shopfronts, or when painted for splashbacks to ensure increased colour matching accuracy.

Patterned Glass
Patterned or figured rolled glass is manufactured using the same process as float glass, however when the glass is in a semi-molten state is it run through two rollers, one of which has a surface pattern which creates a continuous and permanent pattern in the glass ribbon. The glass then continues to the annealing lehr for cooling and is cut and stored in the same manner as float glass.
The Australian Glass Group supplies a range of patterned glasses, including cathedral, spotswood, satinlite and gluechip in both clear and tinted options. Please check with your local AGG company for up to date stock information.

Coated Glass
There are two types of coated glass products, those being pyrolytic (hard coat) and sputter coat (soft coat). There is also two types of coatings applied to the glass surface, insulating coatings and reflective coatings.

Pyrolytic coatings are a metal oxide coating that is applied to the glass during the float manufacturing process. This means the coating is fused to the glass at a high temperature which makes the coating hard and durable, and is easier to handle.  The most common type of pyrolytic reflective coatings are products such as Stopsol® and EVantage®.  These products are available in colours such as green, grey, bronze and blue. The most common type of pyrolytic insulating coating is a Low E coating.

Sputter coated products (soft coats) are manufactured by a process where metal particles are deposited onto the glass surface in a vacuum chamber. The most common products used are stainless steel, silver and titanium although nearly any non magnetic alloy or metal can be used.  Performance depends on the type and density of the coating. In most cases sputter coated products perform better than pyrolytic coats. The coating is not as robust as a pyrolytic coating and therefore needs to be treated in a different manner. Care must be taken during processing, handling and on site.

Low E Glass
Low E coatings have been developed to improve the insulating performance of glass. The coating on the glass reflects long wave infra red (Radiant heat) back to the heat source. In simple terms the heat created within a building is reflected back into the building making it more energy efficient.

Low E used as an exposed coating gives a small benefit in insulation to a building compared to uncoated glass, if the coating is incorporated into an Insulglass unit the insulation performance (U Value) is significantly improved. The Insulglass unit also encapsulates the coating thus protecting it from damage.

There are specific cleaning instructions for different types of Low E glass and the coating does need to be treated with care.

Low E products are available in 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm and 10mm. There are a range of different products such as Sungate 500®, EnergyTech®, Sunergy®, and EVantage®. Please Note: Not all products are available in all thicknesses.

Products available may be neutral in colour for high solar heat gain or have a tint incorporated to reduce solar heat gain. Colours available include neutral, grey, green, bronze and blue.

All Low E products are able to be manufactured as toughened products. This should be utilised for areas where Grade A safety glass is required, or where there is a possibility of thermal stress to glass.

Low E products are also available in laminated form.  Different combinations can be used to allow the reduction of solar heat gain where appropriate. The benefits of laminating these products are increased solar performance, safety, 99% reduction in UV penetration, benefits in sound insulation with the added performance in insulation due to the Low E coating. Low E Laminate products include ComfortPlus® and Sunergy®. Colours available are Clear, Neutral, Grey, Green and Blue.