GLASS FROM SAND TO SKYSCRAPER

Best Buy Headquarters in Provo, Utah

Most glass is comprised of silica that comes from fine white sand or pulverized sandstone and a small amount of alkali like soda (sodium bicarbonate) or potash or recycled glass to lower its melting point, lime is added to stabilize and strengthen it and also to make it water resistant. It is then heated to 2500

degrees for up to 24 hours then cooled several hundred degrees to work with.

HOW GLASS IS MADE

Sheets of glass or Float glass is manufactured in a unique way because the molten glass is formed by

floating it on a bed of molten tin kept at high temperature. The glass spreads out and flattens,

and is then drawn out into a continuous glass ribbon. The surface of the glass winds up being

extremely smooth, with a brilliant finish like sheet glass, plus the optical quality of plate glass.

HOW LIQUID GLASS BECOMES SHEETS OF GLASS

The First StepCutting

In the cutting department they have a large table they roll the glass onto then they use a large glass cutting tool machine to score the glass then they snap it in two this we will see done in the video.

Once cut to the right size it goes to either the silk screen department then to tempering or straight

to the tempering line.

HOW SHEETS OF GLASS BECOME AN INSULATED UNIT AT VIRACON

TemperingOnce in the tempering department it is loaded into the

oven and heated to approximately 1,150° F. Once at this temperature, it is then rapidly cooled, or quenched,

by air blown onto both sides of the glass surfaces simultaneously. This cooling process creates a state of

high compression at the glass surfaces while the central core of the glass is in a compensating tension.

The only physical characteristics of the glass that change are the improved strength and resistance to

thermal stress and shock.

THE SECOND STEP

CoatingsIn the coatings department the glass is loaded on a

conveyor belt and has either a solar reflective coating put on it or a low-e coating. These coatings

reduce inside glare and heat transfer. At Viracon they have over 350 combinations of color, tint, silk

screen, solar reflective and low-e coatings. After coatings the glass goes to staging where it can then go to the laminating or the insulating department.

THE THIRD STEP

This step is either laminating or insulating. If it is the laminating department they will be taking two sheets of glass and joining them together with a strong layer of vinyl, by running them through an oven and then an autoclave. These are sometimes shipped straight to a job site or another company

or the are joined with another piece of glass to make an insulated unit in the insulting

department.

THE FORTH STEP

The Insulating DepartmentHere we join two units of glass together using a metal air spacer made of either aluminum or

stainless steel, they come in plain silver color or black. The air spacers are filled with desiccant to absorb any moisture between the panes and are

joined to the glass with butyl. The unit is then sent down the line to have silicone fill the remaining

space. And then it is off to a box and the shipping department.

THE LAST STEP BEFORE SHIPPING

Once the finished unit is in the box it goes to the packing department then they close up the box

and send it to the shipping department. The shipping department then loads into a truck to go

to the construction sight, where turn it into a skyscraper.

THE LAST THING VIRACON DOES

VIRACON VIDEO

SOME COMPLETED SKYSCRAPERS

Utah Valley Convention CenterOklahoma City Federal Building

Question and Answer Time

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