Recent new low E glass characteristic improvement

From the previous article on low-E glass, it was stated that soft-coat low-E glass cannot be manufactured into laminated glass. However, there has been a development in coating technology that now allows the production of semi-soft-coat low-E glass, which can be used to produce laminated glass. Nevertheless, it still cannot be used to manufacture single-pane or tempered glass.

One advantage of semi-soft-coat low-E glass is its better heat reduction compared to hard-coat low-E glass. The initial performance values include:

Approximately 70% light transmittance and around 9% light reflectance, with a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.6.

However, this type of glass still has its drawbacks:

The coating surface cannot come into direct contact with the air, requiring the coating to be positioned between the glass layers. This results in a loss of heat reduction efficiency (U-value) and the potential for long-term oxidation from air that infiltrates through the PVB layer.

Nevertheless, the development of this new type of low-E glass provides users with more options, and they need to weigh the advantages, disadvantages, and various costs when making decisions.