Introduction to Common Glass in Glass Greenhouses

Glass is an amorphous inorganic non-metallic material. It is generally made of a variety of inorganic minerals (such as quartz sand, borax, boric acid, barite, barium carbonate, limestone, feldspar, soda ash, etc.) as the main raw materials, and a small amount of auxiliary raw materials are added. Its main components are silicon dioxide and other oxides. The chemical composition of ordinary glass is Na2SiO3, CaSiO3, SiO2 or Na2O·CaO·6SiO2, etc. The main component is silicate complex salt, which is an amorphous solid with irregular structure. It is widely used in buildings to block wind and transmit light, and is a mixture. There are also colored glass that shows color by mixing certain metal oxides or salts, and tempered glass made by physical or chemical methods. Sometimes some transparent plastics (such as polymethyl  methacrylate) are also called organic glass.

Glass greenhouse refers to a greenhouse that uses glass as a lighting material. It is a type of greenhouse. Among cultivation facilities, glass greenhouses have the longest service life and are suitable for use in a variety of regions and under various climatic conditions.

At present, the commonly used glass in glass greenhouses is divided into ordinary float glass, ultra-clear float glass, and AR anti-reflective ultra-clear float glass. Let us learn about the characteristics of various glasses.

 

From the appearance, the biggest difference between float glass and ultra-clear float glass is transparency. There are also strict regulations on the iron oxide content that causes glass coloring, which is 10 times higher than ordinary float glass.

1.Characteristics of float glass:

1.1 First of all, float glass is made in a tin bath, and the glass floats on the surface of the tin liquid. Therefore, this kind of glass is first of all flat and has no water ripples. It is used for mirror making and automobile glass, and it does not deform, which is its major advantage.

1.2 Secondly, the mineral quartz sand used in float glass is good raw material. The produced glass is pure, transparent, bright, colorless, and has no glass boils, bubbles, etc. The structure is tight, heavy, and smooth to the touch. The same thickness per square meter is heavier than that of flat plate, easy to cut, and not easy to break.

2.Characteristics of ultra-white glass:

It has all the processability of high-quality float glass, and has superior physical, mechanical and optical properties. It can be processed in various deep processes like other high-quality float glass.

3.AR anti-reflective glass

AR glass, namely ANTI-REFLECTIVE GLASS, means high anti-transmittance coated glass, or anti-reflective coated glass. It is mainly based on nanoporous silica technology, which coats a special chemical film on the glass surface to reduce the reflectivity of the glass surface and increase the transmittance of sunlight. After coating with AR film, the transmittance of general ultra-clear glass can be increased from about 91% to 97%. At the same time, the direct light reflectivity of the glass surface is increased from about 8% before coating.