What is bonding used for in glass facade systems?
Bonding is the use of structural adhesives, most commonly silicone, to join glass to glass or glass to a metal substructure without mechanical fixings passing through the visible glass surface. Structural glazing systems, point-fixed facade elements, and glass balustrades with a bonded base connection all depend on a bonding process that is controlled for surface preparation, adhesive cure conditions, and joint geometry, since a bonded joint's strength depends on all three. KH Glass Group performs bonding in-house as one of its ten integrated production processes, applying it to facade components, guardrail and balustrade assemblies, and glass-to-frame connections that are then delivered as a finished sub-assembly rather than as loose glass and loose hardware. Running bonding inside the same facility that cuts, tempers, and laminates the glass means the bonded joint is applied to a panel whose exact dimensions and edge condition are already known, which supports the tighter tolerances that structural bonding requires compared with a purely mechanical fixing.