Reviews&Previews

IGMA Holds Summer Technical Conference
The Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance’s (IGMA) summer technical conference in Ottawa, Ontario, included a number of committee meetings. Among these, the technical services committee discussed an ongoing study on thermal stress issues for insulating glass that would remove barriers for the creation of an ASTM standard on insulating glass. The committee reported that the study has been on hold for the past year or so while IGMA worked on establishing funding for the second phase of the research. The cost of the second phase has been estimated at $75,000 to complete, and, at the time of the meeting, the group had raised $12,000 through its efforts to obtain funding from other industry sources and organizations

The committee also completed work on three new documents, including one on thermal stress and another on multi-cavity insulating glass units, which should be available for purchase on the IGMA website in the fall.

Four separate task groups met during the meeting.

“We are working on new information on gas permeability and testing, vacuum insulating glazing and our ongoing projects with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the life cycle assessment of IGUs,” says Margaret Webb, IGMA executive director. “That work will come to fruition over the next few years and directly lead to even more advanced and better products in the industry.”

Attendees heard several presentations during the event, including one by Deanna Brasseur, a former combat pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces. She challenged audience members to always be their best and never to allow obstacles to stand in the way of progress.

Ken Rubis of Dow Corning also provided a presentation about cold bent insulating glass units.

During Rubis’ presentation, attendees saw videos of unit testing and evaluation of just how far a unit can be bent and perform as required. “One of the keys with cold bent glass is discovering where the stress is and understanding how to manage that,” said Rubis.

USG
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