SCHOTT presents its innovative safety glass at expert summit in Jena

New high-performance glass products offer protection against fire and ballistic attacks / Fire protection a core business at founding site for 35 years now   

The international technology group SCHOTT invited representatives of the German Federal Police Office, State Criminal Police, the Central Council of Jews and safety engineers from the industry to present its bulletproof fire resistant glass products at an expert summit held yesterday. Thanks to its expertise in the area of fire resistant and bulletproof glass, SCHOTT ranks as one of the world's leading companies. The site in Jena that SCHOTT was founded at has been manufacturing fire resistant glass for 35 years – a business that helps to secure the future of the site.

Photo shows a pane of PYRANOVA® secure that was first subjected to a fire test for 30 minutes then attacked with a 9 mm Luger army pistol. The extremely hot glass laminate from SCHOTT resists three shots fired from a 9 mm caliber gun at a speed of 400 m/s. Photo: SCHOTT

“Safety glass is one of our core businesses in Jena,” Dr. Lutz Wehmeier, Managing Director of SCHOTT Technical Glass Solutions GmbH in Jena, explained in welcoming his guests. “We constantly introduce new, higher performance protective glass products to the market in this rather traditional business. Thanks to our development and manufacturing center here at the site that includes a large fire test furnace and a firing range, we are able to meet our customers’ growing safety requirements,” he added.

The innovative safety glasses PYRANOVA® secure and NOVOLAY® secure that were presented at the expert summit are considered to be the world’s first specialty glass products that successfully withstand simultaneous fire and ballistic attacks. SCHOTT became the first company to arrange for its materials to be officially tested by performing a combination of sophisticated tests. In this case, these glass products were subjected to a fire test and bullet attack immediately after one another. The test results were monitored and confirmed by two independent institutes, the Beschussamt Ulm (Bombardment Office in Ulm) and the Institute for Building Materials, Solid Construction and Fire Protection at the Technical University of Braunschweig: The glasses met both of the test standards DIN EN 1363-1 (Fire Protection) and DIN EN 1063 (Bullet Resistance).

A fire test is performed for 60 minutes on a NOVOLAY® secure glass laminate that had already been shattered by shots from a gun in accordance with the DIN EN 1363 standard. Photo: SCHOTT

The European legislator only requires that protective glasses meet various EN safety standards individually basis. “We wanted to go one step further, however, and demonstrate that our glass products can do more than what the existing standard requires,” Wehmeier said. “We thus became the first company in the world to voluntarily have its safety glass laminates subjected to a combination of tests.” Existing safety glasses offer protection against various types of attack, but in the case of an emergency, always against only one form of attack.

 SCHOTT not only presented its new products and encouraged its guests to engage in a round of discussions at the expert summit, but also performed a live demonstration of a large-scale fire test and a firing trial. “I’m impressed,” said Christoph Öxle, who is responsible for global crisis & safety management for the Result Group in Munich. “We are always on the lookout for genuine innovations that enable us to protect our demanding customers effectively and inconspicuously. These products from SCHOTT offer us additional safety reserves. In addition, they are transparent, lightweight and thin and yet offer a high degree of protection against break-ins, gunshot, explosives, Molotov cocktails and fire.”

A glass laminate is subjected to either 30 minutes of fire (standard temperature curve) at a temperature of more than 800 °C or for a period of 5 minutes (simulation of a Molotov cocktail) and then bullet tested at the world's first fire and ballistic facility in Thuringia, Germany. Photo: SCHOTT

The development of the new safety glass range has received support from the Thuringian State Government and the European Regional Development Fund EFRE as part of the research project “2nd Generation Multifunctional Safety Glazing” (2011 FE 0156) since October 2011.

PYRANOVA® secure and NOVOLAY® secure are registered trademarks of SCHOTT AG. 

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SCHOTT is an international technology group with more than 125 years of experience in the areas of specialty glasses and materials and advanced technologies. SCHOTT ranks number one in the world with many of its products. Its core markets are the household appliance, pharmaceuticals, electronics, optics, solar power, transportation and architecture industries. The company is strongly committed to contributing to its customers’ success and making SCHOTT an important part of people’s lives with its high-quality products and intelligent solutions. SCHOTT is committed to managing its business in a sustainable manner and supporting its employees, society and the environment. The SCHOTT Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing and sales units in 35 different countries. Its workforce of around 16,000 employees generated worldwide sales of approximately 2 billion euros for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. SCHOTT AG, with its headquarters in Mainz, Germany, is owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation.