Saudi American Glass Factory (SAGF) in Bahrain announced that it has successfully commissioned its new coating line, which the company says is one of the world“s largest of its kind for the manufactu…
Saudi American Glass Factory (SAGF) in Bahrain announced that it has successfully commissioned its new coating line, which the company says is one of the world“s largest of its kind for the manufacture of K-Lite high performance glass and K-Lite Low-E glass. K-Lite high performance glass (HP) was first produced by the Riyadh-based SAGF in early 1993 and has since been used extensively throughout the Middle East, especially in structural silicone curtainwall systems. “K-Lite HP glass is the supreme barrier to incoming solar energy and when double glazed can provide shading coefficients as low as 0.11 with 2-3% direct solar energy transmission,” says Nabil Awad, regional manager, sales and marketing. “This allows large areas of glass to be used without the penalty of high air-conditioning costs.” K-Lite high-performance coatings are typically composed of chrome, tin, silver, stainless steel and titanium. They are durable and allow K-Lite HP glass to be single glazed, if necessary, especially in spandrel panels where double-glazing does not give additional insulation. SAGF says that single glass works just as well at a fraction of the cost. When one considers that the spandrel area may be p to 50% of the facade, this also can mean a substantial saving, according to Awad. K-Lite Low Emissivity glass is a new product from SAGF and is available in two basic types – K-Lite Low-E and K-Lite Optima. K-Lite Low-E is composed of ultra-thin layers of metal, based on silver, deposited on the glass surface by magnetic sputtering under conditions of full vacuum. According to Awad, Sputtered Low-E coatings, such as K-Lite 74 are characterized as “soft coating” and must be used in insulated glass units where the interior surfaces with the Low-E coating are fully protected.