Currently, it is often necessary to resort to involuntary zoning of an apartment or house. There are a large number of design solutions for the visual increase in the space of the premises. Thanks to the booming construction industry, architects and designers often use glass to achieve their goals. Glass partition is a popular modern way to organize space.
Interior glass partitions: material characteristics, types constructions
Glass partitions for space zoning take up little space, but at the same time they visually increase the area of the room. Thanks to a special treatment, the glass used for the partition is safe and secure. To create blocks most often used tempered glass or triplex. In the first case, the sheets are heat treated in a special oven. Triplex is also called laminated glass. It consists of several layers of such material, glued together with a special resin.
There are various options for mounting glass blocks for partitions. Apply not only stationary partitions, but also sliding, and also suspended designs. Interior sliding glass partitions are installed using the rails on which they move. And the suspension systems are attached to the upper profile of the partition by means of carriages, which allows not to make the thresholds at the bottom of the mount. Thus, frameless glazing becomes also thresholdless.
In addition, with the help of glass decoration, you can easily embody any design idea. The material can be transparent, matte, tinted. With the help of an architectural film, a suitable image, ornament, logo or inscription is easily applied to glass. Today you can find the most unexpected solutions in the photo of glass partitions in the apartment and office.
Glass partitions for zoning the space in the room are made of durable material, safe to use. Most often it is tempered glass, the thickness of which is on average 10-12 mm. Its main advantage over the “raw” material is that the tempered glass is not broken into sharp cutting fragments. When damaged, it is showered with fragments that resemble balls.
Fragments serve as a kind of indicator for the material. If they are about the same size and rounded edges, then it can be argued that this glass is of excellent quality. It has maximum durability and is safe to use. Thus, the possibility of injury is excluded. That is why it is used not only to create partitions, but also for other structures.
The effect of hardening the material is achieved by heating the raw glass to a temperature of approximately 640-650 ° C. Masters use a special oven for this purpose, in which the glass sheets move in a certain way until they reach the desired temperature. Then they cool down quickly in the cooling section. At the same time, the outer layer of glass cools faster, thereby creating a compressive stress on the outside. And from the inside, a tensile stress arises in the hot material. To redistribute the stress forces of the glass, it is annealed.
It is important to know! In rare cases, hardening glass leads to self-destruction. This is facilitated by the nickel sulfide compounds that are in the composition of the material.
During this heat treatment, the material for the partition with glass acquires the necessary properties. It is very important to choose real masters of your craft, because with poorly performed processing many defects appear. Optical distortion of glass is considered the main one. It appears in the case of uneven distribution of heat throughout the material, as well as when using the wrong temperature in general.
Manufacturing of glass partitions of treplex Technology “smart Glass“
The process of making triplex consists in gluing several layers of glass with a special polymer. Due to its properties, it does not allow the material to collapse upon physical impact. At the same time, transparency and throughput of glass are maintained. When damaged, it does not shatter into fragments, and sticks to the interlayer material. Polyvinyl butyral (or PVB) is most commonly used for bonding. Finished products have positive characteristics due to the chemical bonds between glass and PVB arising during the production process.
Currently, there are such types of triplex material:
- refractory;
- bulletproof;
- soundproof;
- explosion-proof;
- shockproof;
- frost-resistant;
- “Smart glass”.
Laminated glass is made by special technology. First, the joined layers are passed through the rollers, after which the plates are processed in a heat chamber. This is necessary in order to remove the air and strengthen the sheet of triplex. The assembly process takes place at a pressure of approximately 8-12 bar. At the same time temperature fluctuates in the range from 100 to 150 ° C.
There are easier ways to create triplex with rubber and polyvinyl chloride. Price per m? glass partition made with the use of such materials is low. Sheets of glass are simply filled with rubber, which is dried by ultraviolet light. The main problem is that the rubber fades as a result of the environment. And the connection of layers using PVC is simply unreliable. After a few years, the glass will peel off, since the connection between the sheets of glass and PVC is only mechanical.
When the damage is done, the partitions from triplex are not showered with sharp fragments. They hang on the bonding layer, eliminating the possibility of a person being hurt. Blocks of this material are produced from 6 to 40 mm thick. The load on the laminated glass is about 200-300 kg / m2. If you achieve the required density of fasteners, this material will have excellent sound insulation.
Smart glass is an electrochromic glass manufactured using high technology. Its main feature is light control. When the smart glass is turned off, it transmits no more than 7-8% of light. In the on state, the transparency of such a wall reaches 80%. The sandwiched film is made of liquid crystals that change the properties of the structure under the influence of electricity. At the same time the power consumption of such a product does not exceed 7 W / m2.
Plexiglas is the perfect solution for quality zoning of space. For the manufacture of such partitions using acrylic glass with a thickness of 0.5-25 mm. It can be completely transparent as well as matte. Extrusion plexiglas covered with a layer of amalgam can be considered as its popular variety. In the process of developing the production of material, the masters learned to melt decorative ornaments into its layers. This type of partition is called decoracryl.
Thus, using plexiglass for organizing space is not only convenient, but also beautiful. On the surface of the Plexiglas can apply any pattern. Figured partitions easily fit into any style of the room. They are widely used not only at home. You can often find plexiglass installed in offices, shopping malls, museums, galleries, on verandas, etc.
Due to its strength, organic glass partitions can be installed not only with the help of a metal frame, but also make them all-glass. In addition, they can be not only stationary. Sliding systems are mobile and organize the usable area in the most profitable way. Depending on the type of mechanism, these moving structures made of Plexiglas are distinguished:
- suspended;
- radius;
- transforming.
The glass partition in the room is most often used to delimit the territory. Therefore, the transparency of the glass is rarely relevant. After all, sometimes the partition performs the function of separating a separate place in the room. Then the main task of zoning an apartment or office will be the desire to close the internal space from prying eyes.
Many years ago, masters invented how to make an interior partition opaque. When it is necessary to limit the visibility of a certain room, opaque glass with a rough surface is used to create structures. To obtain a matte effect, the material is most often treated with such methods:
- chemical etching;
- sandblasting.
With the help of modern technology, you can not just matte the material, but also apply a certain pattern or pattern to it. The decoration slightly increases the cost of glass partitions, since the methods of matting are quite economical. In addition to chemical etching and sandblasting, a matting film is used to create the pattern.
A budget method of artistic decoration is the application of the film. It is easy to stick on the glass surface. If you want to get a glossy pattern on frosted glass, the entire surface of the sheet is pasted over with film. Then the necessary figure is cut out with a special tool. Matting film is a very popular solution for shopping centers and office buildings. Due to its versatility, such a wall made of glass will perfectly fit into any interior.
The simplest is a method of chemical processing of glass with acidic pastes. They can be made independently. However, instead of pastes, they increasingly use specialized liquids for grinding glass. Preference is given to European manufacturers who are known for high quality goods. Imported liquids for matting the product do not leave stains and allow facilitating the work of masters with large sheets of glass.
Chemical etching is the effect on the surface of a material with a chemical solution containing hydrofluoric acid. Thus, high-quality haze with a minimum level of roughness is achieved. Due to the fact that the chemical substance changes the surface structure, this type of matting is the most long-term. For drawing a pattern, a stencil is used on which a fatty solution is applied before the procedure.
Helpful advice! Hydrofluoric acid destroys any glass. If there is a need to store the solution at home, then ebonite or rubber utensils are suitable for this.
The advantage of this method is that it allows you to quickly process a large area of material of any shape. The aqueous solution contains 40% hydrogen fluoride, which affects all metals except gold and platinum. The complexity of chemical processing lies in the fact that it is very difficult to achieve a uniformly etched surface, since the pattern cannot be removed or erased.
A sandblast matting of a glass partition requires serious preparation from the master. The price of the instrument itself, as well as the appropriate rack for glass sheets and dust protection equipment, is high. However, all these components are necessary for high-quality and safe material processing. The process itself is not very complicated, but requires some skill.
A sheet of glass is installed on a special stand to be matted. To fix the glass block, a soft felt layer is used in order not to damage the material under the pressure of the apparatus. It is precisely because of the difficulties of fixation that the figured blocks and non-standard glass fragments do not sandblast. Figure create using a stencil, which is removed after the procedure.
Due to the fact that glass transmits light well, the office space will always be airy and bright. At the same time glass partitions in the office can be made frosted. This option is used when there is a need to create a more confidential environment. Usually frosted glass is used for management offices or accounting staff. or accounting staff.
Glass walls in an apartment or office – a modern design solution. The most harmonious design fits into the interiors in high-tech and modern style. The growth of popularity for the installation of glass partitions is explained by the fact that over the past 15 years the glass production process has been improved: it has become even more reliable.
