Glass processing
To our knowledge, there is no other company that comes close to offering a comparable range of processing options for glass as Irlbacher. Experience, knowledge and a sure instinct make the difference. The machines that we develop and build ourselves. And, of course, the people who work with the machines.
Raw glass
Selecting the right raw glass is the first step in any development project. With over 250 types of raw glass, we have just about every type of flat glass in stock. This includes soda-lime glass as float or white glass, borosilicate glass for particularly high requirements, but also aluminosilicate glass as thin glass, from a thickness of 0.55 mm. In addition, special glasses such as glass-ceramic B270 or D263, through-dyed colored glass, color effect filters, ornamental glass, glass tubes, or even anti-reflective glasses.
Cutting
The blanks are cut to size from a large sheet of flat glass (standard size in Europe: 6,000 mm × 3,210 mm).
The surface of the glass panel is scratched with a diamond and then broken over an edge.
In an automated process, multiple blanks are produced with millimetre accuracy.
Waterjet cutting
We use environmentally friendly waterjet cutting to make cut-outs or create free-formed and round contours.
CNC processing - grinding & polishing
Our CNC glass processing with machines developed in-house makes it possible to realize almost any contour and surface treatment according to customer specifications.
The glass edges are precisely ground and polished on special CNC-controlled machines.
Depending on the application, recesses are machined into the surface of our glass for haptic finger guidance and then polished.
Drilling & sinking
In contrast to metal, glass is not a solid, but a solidified melt, which is why drilling behaves completely differently. With our 90 years of know-how, we have developed our own machines and processes to drill holes or blind holes in glass.
The same applies when drilling holes. We have also developed our own tools and machines for this processing, which are optimally tailored to the properties of glass as a material.
Laser processing
With our laser, we can process glass both in an ablation process and in the filament process, depending on the geometry and surface of the edge.
Our laser process is also ideal for special projects, such as a microreactor for analysis in the chemical industry.
Using filamentation, we cut glass, similar to using a water jet, but with significantly smoother edges that no longer require post-processing.
Deform & bend
Depending on requirements, we transform flat glass into elegant design objects and thus create unique selling points for our customers.
Multi-ceramic printed glasses are precisely bent and then refined to ESG using our thermal hardening process.
3D-shaped patterned glass for use in the lighting industry.
Hardening - thermal and chemical
During thermal hardening, the glass is heated to 580-680°C and becomes elastic again due to the high temperature. This is followed by sudden cooling, which places the core of a disk under tensile stress and the surface under compressive stress. We use chemical hardening for glasses that are thinner than 3 mm. Here, there is an exchange of ions between the alkaline ions of the surface layers of the glass and the potassium ions of the salt solution in which the glass is immersed.
