On the 17th at Corning Precision Materials' business sites in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. Entering the production facility, the first thing visible was a yellow robot transferring a glass sheet that had just passed through the melter onto the conveyor belt. Rectangular glass was being manufactured. The "fusion process," in which molten glass falls through a large V-shaped trough, is Corning's proprietary method designed so that nothing touches the glass except air.
The full-scale processing then began. The glass was cut to the ordered size, and the edges were smoothed to increase strength. It then went through washing and drying, followed by ultra-precise quality inspection. Vaughn Hall, president of Corning Korea, said, "Corning is changing smartly by introducing a technical process that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI)."
Corning, Korea's only advanced glass manufacturer, opened its production facility to outsiders for the first time that day and said it would step up efforts to target the architectural glass market. Vice President Lim Jeong-han, head of Corning Precision Materials, introduced the architectural glass "Enlighten Glass," saying, "As 0.5 mm glass, thinner than a credit card (0.76 mm), is incorporated into triple-pane windows, the weight is reduced by 30%, thermal insulation improves by 10%, and transparency improves by 4%."
Triple-pane glass is high-insulation glass made by bonding three sheets of glass and injecting argon gas into the voids between them. Compared with double-pane glass made by bonding two sheets, it delivers greater energy savings and is mainly used in system windows. Typically, three 5 mm soda-lime glass panes are used, but Corning replaced the middle pane with 0.5 mm Enlighten Glass. Considering that most architectural glass is 3–6 mm, it is extremely thin.
Examining the cross-section of the triple-pane glass displayed in the showroom on the first floor of the Asan business sites, the difference in thickness was even clearer. Enlighten Glass is thin, but when picked up, it felt solid. Enlighten Glass is borosilicate glass, which is more resistant to thermal shock and higher in strength than soda-lime glass.
The thinner the glass, the lighter it becomes. The biggest advantage of applying Enlighten Glass is weight reduction. Based on a 769×1934 mm size, glass used in a standard sliding window weighs 55.7 kg, which drops to 39 kg when Enlighten Glass is used. Lim said, "From a consumer's perspective, heavy windows are hard to open and close; from a contractor perspective, increased weight can raise expense and heighten the risk of safety accidents." Thermal insulation also improves. While one might assume that general triple-pane glass made of three thick panes offers higher insulation, the thinner the middle pane, the wider the argon gas air layer becomes, increasing insulation performance. Corning also noted, "Carbon emissions were reduced by 58% compared with soda-lime glass."
Transparency is higher. Lim said, "Enlighten Glass offers better visible transparency than the low-iron glass (ultra-high-transparency glass with reduced iron content) used at the Louvre Museum in France." The strength is said to be not much different from general triple-pane glass. This year, Corning worked with the Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL), an accredited certification body, to earn a Grade 1 rating in durability testing.
Triple-pane glass using Corning's Enlighten Glass has been applied to "Wonna Cheongdam," an ultra-luxury residence in Seoul's Gangnam District reportedly owned by singer G-Dragon. In addition, projects are underway at 11 other sites. Lim said, "We are actively cooperating with Samsung C&T's construction institutional sector and KCC," adding, "We plan to expand collaboration."
The outlook for the architectural glass market is bright. Consegic Business Intelligence, a global market research firm, projected that due to factors such as increased dwelling reconstruction and remodeling and the adoption of prefabricated and modular construction, the size of the architectural glass market will grow from $7.736 billion in 2024 to $127.28 billion in 2032. It forecast a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% through 2032. Vaughn Hall, the president, said, "I believe the expansion of the architectural glass market will be an important opportunity."
☞ About Corning
Founded in 1851, Corning is a global materials science corporations that posted $14.4 billion in sales last year. It developed the glass bulb for the incandescent lamp invented by Thomas Edison in the 1870s and dominated the global market with cathode-ray tube TV glass. It is also a powerhouse in glass for smartphone panels. "Gorilla Glass," the thin, impact-resistant glass widely used in smartphones, is a Corning product. Gorilla Glass is used in Samsung Electronics' flagship Galaxy S series smartphones. Recently, it has focused on the optical fiber business for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Corning Precision Materials is Corning's Korean subsidiary.