15,600 Glass Blocks for a Spanish Memorial
The glass blocks for the memorial in Madrid, designed by FAM architects, are made of borosilicate glass and are manufactured in round shapes, convex on the one side, concave on the other. This shape made it possible to bond them together in circular rows of blocks and, thus, create the cylindrical shape of the monument. One block alone weights 8.4 kilograms, measures 200 by 300 millimeters and is 70 millimeters thick.
SCHOTT was selected to be the manufacturer of these glass components. To ensure timely execution of the project, a melting tank for manufacturing the 15,600 glass blocks was reserved early on at the SCHOTT site in Grünenplan. The proven high temperature stability of borosilicate glass was also important. After all, according to the specifications, the material had to be capable of standing up to the extreme changes in climate Madrid often faces.
BOROFLOAT® 33 borosilicate glass is SCHOTT’s name for high-quality, multi-functional float glass. This float glass is manufactured by SCHOTT JENAer GLAS using the Microfloat process and the latest technology.
Its properties, such as its high thermal and chemical resistance, its good transparency and surface quality, allow access to new and high tech special glass applications. BOROFLOAT® has proven itself in many applications such as electrophoresis, microfluidics and photovoltaics.