Bubble glass is a blend of over 90% post-consumer glass of various compositions. The material is processed at high temperatures to form a strong porous bubble or bead of glass.This process takes glass that typically weighs 80 or more pounds per cubic foot and converts it into hard porous beads that can weigh as little as 12 pounds per cubic foot. This is an 85% reduction in weight!.
In the construction arena, bubble glass can be used to produce concrete blocks, controlled crush concrete, solid poured walls, molded connectable log blocks, fire resistant panels, and fire resistant drywall. These products have several advantages over the conventional product available today. They are fire resistant, insect resistant, and mold resistant and have an extremely high R-value. Concrete products that use bubble glass as an aggregate replacement have demonstrated a 6 fold increase in R-value.
Precast and poured walls and wall units can be as much as 50% lighter than conventional concrete and provide up to 6 times the R value. They have superior acoustical properties, insulating from noise as well as heat and cold, and they accept nails and screws without having to use special tools or fasteners. This is impossible with a standard concrete block. Interior wall finishing has never been easier than with these blocks. Simply screw on your desired wall covering and you are done.
Using bubbleglass, block manufacturers can make light weight concrete blocks. Where a typical 8" block weighs around 35 pounds, bubbleglass blocks weigh as little as 20 pounds and have a far superior insulating value than standard block. The light weigh blocks will substantially reduce the transportation costs to the job site. Block layers are able to lay more blocks per hour with the reduced weight blocks.
When exposed to fire, bubbleglass blocks absorb and dissipate the heat while remaining intact. When a conventional concrete block is exposed to the same fire, cracking begins in less than 30 seconds and the block crumbles into pieces.
An independent manufacturer who uses our bubbleglass has tested and proven in their own process that bubbleglass does not contribute to ASR (Alkali-silica reaction) as commonly occurs when introducing conventional glass into a concrete based matrix. The test that was done to qualify bubbleglass as ASR resistant was the ASTM C1260 test.
Download Technical Data Sheet and MSDS PDF's for Bubbleglass by clicking on their highlighted links.
For more information or to place an order please email Aaron Teel ateel@viceroyceramics.com or call 814-574-2424.
