Tinted glass panels can be used to reduce solar radiation, glare and visible light transmission through glass panels, creating a more comfortable environment internally.
The most common tint shades used in architectural glazing are bronze, blue, grey and green. The tint is applied to the glass units at the annealed state of glazing. Small additions of metal oxides are introduced to the float glass in order to produce the colour tint required.
For a bronze tint selenium oxide is added to the molten float glass, cobalt oxide additions provide a grey tint and additional concentrations of cobalt oxide are added to create a blue tint. Standard ‘clear’ glass has a natural green tint to it due to the iron oxide content in float glass manufacture but is usually not noticeable, if a green tinted appearance is required additional iron oxide is added to the float glass composition. The colour shade and concentration is consistent throughout the glass panel.
The introduction of these inorganic additives to the glass does not affect its natural mechanical properties. Once tinted the annealed tinted glass can be toughened or laminated to produce a safety glass and used in production of an insulated glass unit.
Visibility through a tinted glass unit from outside is reduced during daylight hours when the concentration of external light is higher so is regularly used to provide privacy to spaces such as office buildings. The light that does travel through the tinted glass to the internal space has a reduced brightness, glare and UV concentration.