Mirrors, a bi-product of glass, started to be made in the 13th century in Murano. In the 16th century, Venetian glass masters placed a thin layer of tin on the back of sheet glass, then coated it with mercury to make the first sheet glass mirror. The use of crystallized silver in mirror production instead of mercury started in 1855 when the chemical mirror casting style developed by Justus von Liebig was adopted. German George Miederer developed the mirror production technique and optimized it regarding quality and amount to take the first step towards today’s mirror production.
In sheet glass production, the most advanced technology used in our day is the Float production technology. Float production is based on the principle of melting sand and other raw materials at 1500°C-1600°C, then floating them in a pool of tin to cool under control. The strip of glass is brought to the desired thickness and width in the tin pool. During the cooling stage the glass strip is cut at certain sizes.
The float glass that is produced with Float production technology undergoes a fully automated production process on the mirror line which includes,
- Washing
- Polishing
- Silver coating
- Two layers of painting
- And a drying stage to become a mirror.
In Flotal E,
- There is no copper coating,
- Paint layers are used to protect the silver layer. The top protective wet paint is 100% lead free and the wet primer paint contains less than 0.5% lead by weight,
- Less solid/ gas waste is generated during the environmentally friendly production process.
In Flotal Ultra Clear,
- Low iron float glass is used in the fully automatic production on the mirror line.