SCHOTT has been in the glass industry for more than 130 years and leads development in areas of specialty glasses, materials, and advanced technologies.
Today SCHOTT’s PYRAN® Platinum fire-rated glass-ceramic can be found improving and beautifying buildings all over the world.
PYRAN Platinum’s innovative Microfloat process combines aesthetics and safety, expanding the limits of building design. These are just some of the benefits.
1. Smooth Surfaces
PYRAN Platinum glass-ceramic was not installed in the entrance. Photo courtesy of STL Architects
In 2007 SCHOTT introduced the world to the first floated glass-ceramic—PYRAN Platinum. It continued to be the only floated glass-ceramic as of 2018, produced using the company’s unique Microfloat process, so you won’t find the blemishes or distortions you see with glass produced using competitors’ rolling process, which can leave imperfections as the glass rolls over steel rolls.
SCHOTT floats the molten glass ribbon on an inert bed of liquid tin, cooling it slowly without any mechanical contact that could mar the surface. Competitors often need to polish their glass afterward to try to remove distortions, adding to the cost.
“PYRAN Platinum fire-rated glass-ceramic is the only glass-ceramic designed specifically for architectural applications,” says Dan Poling, sales manager for PYRAN.
The industry itself is small—three glass-ceramics manufacturers exist in the world. Poling says competitors’ fire-rated glass-ceramics are a byproduct of other products, like cooktop stoves, whereas SCHOTT’s fire-rated glass-ceramics are made to be just that.
“We developed PYRAN Platinum specifically for fire-rated architectural applications in North America.”
2. Even Thickness
Because the molten glass is truly floating, you’re also guaranteed an even thickness.
Poling says it’s difficult to control thickness with the rolling process, as the molten glass doesn’t have time to spread out evenly like it does when floating.
“The best products you can buy are floated products. They’re more economical, you get a better surface quality, and you get a better, true thickness,” he says.
3. Neutral Color
Traditional fire-rated glass-ceramics have an orange, yellow, or brown hue, but PYRAN Platinum glass-ceramics do not, and architects love it. “Ours is more gray-green, providing a neutral color rendition,” Poling says.
When you look through a competitor’s glass-ceramic that’s colored yellow, orange, or brown, everything appears an unnatural color. “When people see ours the first thing they say to us is, ‘Oh, this looks so much more clear.’ When they look through a product that’s more gray-green, it doesn’t mutate the colors we see, so the sky looks blue, the grass looks green.”
4. Distortion-Free Finish
Photo courtesy of STL Architects
PYRAN Platinum batches are smaller than those of soda lime glass, too, which makes the temperature easier to control. “We’re controlling the heat process, and being able to flow the glass on the bed of liquid tin allows us to have less deviation in the end product,” says Kim Kennell, marketing manager.
While the process for soda lime glass can produce melts up to 500 to 600 tons of glass, SCHOTT produces 20 to 40 tons of glass. The raw materials used in PYRAN Platinum are heated to temperatures far higher than those used in common soda lime glass. The temperature is then slowly decreased. This slow cooling enables the surface of the glass to remain smooth with a distortion-free finish.
“Soda lime glass you see everywhere—it’s mass produced. This is not mass produced. It’s very customized,” Poling says.
