Hankuk Glass Double Low-E, a product coated with two layers of silver film
Superior thermal insulation and solar heat-blocking performance, 80% market share
Since first launching Double Low-E in 2007, glass specialist Hankuk Glass has held roughly an 80% share of the Double Low-E market, recording cumulative domestic sales of 6.5 million ㎡ over the 15 years from launch to the present.
According to a company official, this is the largest sales record in the country—a volume equivalent to 2.2 times the area of Yeouido, and enough area to build 57 Lotte World Towers, Korea’s super-tall skyscraper (based on Lotte World Tower’s exterior area of 114,000 ㎡).
With building regulations having recently been strengthened, Low-E glass is now essential in most buildings. Currently, there is a growing trend of installing high-performance Double Low-E in high-rise commercial buildings and public-sector buildings that require energy-saving functions. Double Low-E refers to a product coated with two layers of silver film, offering excellent thermal insulation and solar heat-blocking performance.
One might think that the insulation performance of glass could be improved simply by making the silver film thicker, but the thicker the film becomes, the more the glass turns mirror-like, making it impossible to see clearly out the window from inside and causing severe glare from outside the building. For this reason, the technical expertise behind Low-E glass lies in coating the silver film in multiple thin layers while maintaining an appropriate transmittance.
Low-E glass shows a wide variance in performance depending on the number of coating layers. Comparing Single Low-E and Double Low-E, the difference in insulation performance can reach more than 50%. Single Low-E is mainly applied to apartments, while Double Low-E is used in high-rise buildings and public offices.
Among the Double Low-E products sold by Hankuk Glass, the one purchased by the most customers is ‘SKN154II,’ which offers high insulation and energy-saving performance and is applied to schools, government offices, and large high-rise buildings. Buoyed by the strong sales of SKN154II, Hankuk Glass has now launched ‘SKN154,’ which delivers the same performance as SKN154II but can be used in a non-tempered form. The non-tempered SKN154 product allows the heat-treatment tempering process to be omitted, dramatically reducing insulated-glass fabrication time and thereby shortening on-site delivery times.
A Hankuk Glass official said, “As related policies such as the mandating of zero-energy buildings gradually expand, the high-performance Low-E glass market is growing, and the company is working to launch a variety of products.” He added, “Among our products, we believe SKN154II’s sales have grown because its excellent performance has been recognized in the market. We will continue to steadily develop and launch high-performance products to increase the satisfaction of many customers.”