Window glass is exposed to sunlight every day.
UV radiation, high temperatures, and day-night temperature swings test windows every day.
Few people realize that UV exposure may be slowly damaging their vacuum glass.
- Organic Residue: A Time Bomb in the Edge Seal
Other edge-sealing methods, such as glass-frit solder and silver paste, use organic resin solvents to control paste flow during coating and printing.
In theory, these organic solvents should fully decompose and evaporate during sintering. In practice, this does not always happen.
Glass-frit solder is sealed at only 350–400°C, which may not fully break down the organic materials, leaving residue in the seal.
Under prolonged UV exposure, this residue slowly decomposes and releases CO₂ and water vapor (H₂O).
- How Bad Are CO₂ and H₂O Residue?
Vacuum glass normally contains a getter to absorb residual gases and maintain the vacuum.
CO₂ can be absorbed by a metal getter, but water vapor (H₂O) cannot.
As the organic residue continues to decompose, water vapor builds up in the vacuum cavity, increasing internal pressure, lowering the vacuum level, and reducing thermal performance.
More seriously, if organic residue forms a continuous path along the sealing interface, its decomposition can create a leak path and cause complete seal failure.
- The Data Speaks for Itself
Test data supports this:
Using the same silver-paste sealing process, vacuum glass with an evacuation port achieved a U-value of 0.42 W/㎡·K, while glass without one measured about 0.6 W/㎡·K—a performance gap of nearly 50%.
This is because units with an evacuation port are evacuated for more than 5 hours after sealing, with heating and gas ionization to remove water vapor thoroughly. In units without an evacuation port, water vapor from organic decomposition cannot escape and continues to reduce the vacuum level.
- The SuperVIG® Solution: Eliminating Organic Residue at the Source
SuperVIG® uses an all-metal sealing process with no organic solvents.
The active solder reacts directly with the glass substrate to form a metallurgical bond. The entire sealing system is all-metal, eliminating the risk of organic residue.
Even after prolonged UV exposure, intense heat, or high-temperature, high-humidity conditions, the SuperVIG® edge seal does not release gas from organic decomposition, protecting the integrity of the vacuum cavity.
Reliable vacuum glass needs an edge seal that can withstand long-term sun exposure.
That is the SuperVIG® commitment behind every panel.
