On the 17th, at Corning Precision Materials' business site in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. Entering the production facility, the first thing visible was a yellow robot moving glass sheets that had just passed through the melting furnace onto a conveyor belt. Rectangular glass was being manufactured. Corning's proprietary "fusion process," in which molten glass falls through a large V-shaped trough, is designed so that nothing but air touches it.
The full-scale processing began next. The glass was cut to the ordered size, its edges were smoothed, and its strength was reinforced. After washing and drying, it underwent an ultra-precise quality inspection. Vaughn Hall, president of Corning Korea, said, "Corning is changing smartly by introducing a technology 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 ramp up efforts to target the architectural glass market. Executive Vice President Lim Jeong-han introduced the architectural glass "Enlighten Glass," saying, "By using 0.5 mm glass, thinner than a credit card's thickness (0.76 mm), in triple-pane windows, weight is reduced by 30%, 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 gaps. Compared with double-pane glass, which bonds two sheets, it delivers greater energy savings and is mainly used in system windows. Typically, three 5 mm sheets 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.
A cross-section of the triple-pane glass displayed in the showroom on the first floor of the Asan business site showed the thickness difference even more clearly. Though thin, Enlighten Glass is made through a strengthening process that enhances flexibility and durability, so it felt solid even when held in one hand.
The thinner the glass, the lighter it becomes. The biggest advantage of applying Enlighten Glass is weight reduction. For a 769×1934 mm pane, the glass used in a standard sliding window weighs 55.7 kg; with Enlighten Glass, it drops to 39 kg. Lim said, "From a consumer's perspective, heavy windows are hard to open and close, and from a builder's standpoint, increased weight can raise expense and heighten the risk of safety accidents." Insulation performance also improves. While one might assume that standard triple-pane glass, composed of three thick sheets, would offer superior insulation, the thinner the middle pane, the wider the argon gas air layer becomes, enhancing insulation performance. Corning said, "We also cut carbon emissions by 58% compared with existing products."
Transparency is higher. Lim said, "Enlighten Glass has superior visible transparency compared with the low-iron glass (ultra-high-transparency glass with reduced iron content) used by the Louvre Museum in France." The strength is said to be not much different from that of standard triple-pane glass. This year, Corning worked with the Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL), an accredited certification body, to receive a grade 1 rating in durability tests.
Triple-pane glass using Corning's Enlighten Glass has been installed at "One Cheongdam," an ultra-luxury residence in Seoul's Gangnam District known to be 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 division 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 the architectural glass market will grow from $7.736 billion in 2024 to $127.28 billion in 2032, driven by increases in housing reconstruction and remodeling, and the adoption of prefabricated and modular construction. The expected compound annual growth rate through 2032 was observed at 6.5%. Vaughn Hall, the president, said, "We see the expansion of the architectural glass market as an important opportunity."
☞ About Corning
Founded in 1851, Corning is a global materials science corporations that posted $14.4 billion in revenue last year. In the 1870s, it developed the glass bulb for Thomas Edison's incandescent lamp, and it dominated the global market with glass for cathode-ray tube TVs. 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 used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Corning Precision Materials is Corning's Korean subsidiary.