MORE THAN SAFETY

Over the years, C&C Safety Glass has expanded its offering to include a growing selection of high-specification performance products for the energy efficiency sector. We are driven to increase our range of safety glass products, and to increase the quality of products produced in southern Africa in line with European standards.

We are understandably proud of our facilities and boast an impressive array of equipment, particularly our new generation convection furnace, which toughens soft-coated Low E high performance glass to the most exacting standards.

Toughening Low E glass is a challenge. The thin coating of silver or tin oxide used to reflect heat away from a building’s interior is so effective, that it reflects heat away from the glass it coats during the manufacturing process. This prevents the furnace from evenly heating the glass top and bottom when using normal radiant heat furnaces.

To resolve this problem we use a convection toughening furnace that does not only rely on radiant heat transfer, but also conductive heat and friction by hot air that increases the heat transfer of the furnace by blowing air that is pre-heated to 700ºC over the coated surface of the glass. This ensures that the glass is evenly heated, effectively preventing the coating from reflecting the heat.

The additional air supply to the upper surface of the glass helps to keep the glass flat during the heating process and reduces bowing and optical defects. It also significantly reduces the heating time and therefore boosts productivity, cutting processing time by 25% compared with a conventional radiation furnace.