Rooms with transparent doors, light-flooded side walls and skylights – open architecture is now made possible by a special sheet size for fire-rated glazing. PYRAN® Platinum glass-ceramic in its new version, which was developed especially for the North American market, is now available in 51-inch by 99-inch panels. SCHOTT has set yet another milestone with this new size. PYRAN® Platinum is currently not only the world’s first and only floated glass-ceramic developed specifically for architectural applications. It is also currently the industry’s largest fire-rated glass-ceramic panel.
“Thanks to the substantial efforts of our product development team, PYRAN® Platinum’s larger size will provide more installation opportunities for fire-rated glass,” says Dan Poling, FRG Sales Manager at SCHOTT North America.
The larger sheet size does not compromise safety. The fire-rated glass-ceramic is able to withstand the fire endurance test, in which it is subjected to temperatures of up to 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes (180 minutes for door glass). Immediately after the fire endurance test, the PYRAN® Platinum glass-ceramic panel undergoes the hose stream test, where the fire-exposed side is hit with a blast of water from a fire hose at 30 psi. The glazing must remain intact, without breaking or cracking. PYRAN® Platinum glass-ceramic, with its high temperature and thermal shock resistance, passes with flying colors. That is not its only remarkable feature. Thanks to its microfloat manufacturing process, PYRAN® Platinum glass-ceramic offers a mirror-like surface quality and outstanding optical quality unmatched by any other fire-rated glass-ceramic on the market. Other processing methods, such as rolled glass-ceramic, typically require polishing to remove distortions. Other commercially available transparent glass-ceramics also have an unwanted amber tint. Not PYRAN® Platinum. The product provides true color rendition and is also environmentally friendly, as it is produced without the hazardous heavy metals antimony and arsenic which are often used as refining agents in production.
And the new large size provides even more benefits: “Architects can now design spaces that contribute to effective daylighting, maximize visual comfort, and potentially reduce energy use,” says Dan Poling.
