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What is Optical Grade Acrylic and Why is it Perfect for Thermal Insulation in Adelaide?

What is Optical Grade Acrylic? - Magnetite

What is Optical Grade Acrylic and Why is it Perfect for Thermal Insulation in Adelaide?

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When it comes to managing the thermal performance of your home, particularly in a city like Adelaide with its hot summers and chilly winters, choosing the right materials is important. One such material making waves for its exceptional thermal benefits is optical grade acrylic. But what exactly is it, and how does it work to combat both heat and cold?

What is Optical Grade Acrylic?

Optical grade acrylic is a type of high-quality plastic known for its clarity, durability and versatility. Unlike standard plastics, optical grade acrylic is engineered to provide exceptional transparency, making it a popular alternative to glass in various applications. It allows up to 92% of light to pass through while filtering harmful UV rays, making it the top choice for windows, lenses, and display screens.

Its lightweight nature, combined with resistance to shattering, makes it a safer and more practical option than glass. However, it’s not just its clarity that makes optical grade acrylic stand out—it also boasts remarkable thermal insulation properties.

How Optical Grade Acrylic Works for Thermal Insulation

Optical grade acrylic’s ability to manage temperature stems from its low thermal conductivity. This means it doesn’t transfer heat or cold as quickly as traditional materials like glass. Let’s explore how it performs in both summer and winter:

Thermal Insulation in Summer

Adelaide summers are known for their dry heat, with temperatures often soaring above 40°C. Windows, especially those facing west, are major culprits in letting heat into your home. Optical grade acrylic, when used in retrofit double glazed windows systems, creates an insulating air gap between the existing window and the acrylic panel. This barrier significantly reduces the amount of heat that can pass through.

Additionally, Magnetite retrofit double glazed window solutions can be paired with solar film to further block the sun’s rays. This not only keeps your interiors cooler but also protects your furniture and flooring from fading due to prolonged sun exposure.

Thermal Insulation in Winter

While Adelaide is known for its scorching summers, the winters can get quite cold, with temperatures dropping to single digits at night. Just as it keeps heat out during summer, optical grade acrylic works in reverse during winter. Its insulating properties help retain warmth inside your home, reducing heat loss through windows.

By trapping an insulating layer of air between the acrylic panel and the existing glass, this window solution minimises the escape of warm air. This makes your heating systems more efficient, helping you stay cosy without skyrocketing energy bills.

Benefits of Optical Grade Acrylic for Adelaide Homes

Energy Efficiency

One of the biggest advantages of optical grade acrylic is its impact on energy efficiency. By improving the thermal performance of your windows, it reduces reliance on heating and cooling systems, leading to lower energy consumption and reduced utility bills. In a city like Adelaide, where energy costs can climb during extreme weather, this is a significant benefit.

UV Protection

Optical grade acrylic can block up to 98% of harmful UV rays, offering added protection for your home. This is especially important in Adelaide, where UV levels are high year-round. With optical grade acrylic, you can prevent sun damage to your interiors while enjoying natural light.

Lightweight and Durable

Unlike traditional double glazing, which involves heavy glass panes, optical grade acrylic is lightweight and easy to install. Despite its lighter weight, it is incredibly durable and resistant to impacts, making it a safer choice for homes.

Noise Reduction

While its primary focus is thermal insulation, optical grade acrylic also offers soundproofing benefits. This makes it an excellent choice for homes in Adelaide’s bustling suburbs or near busy roads. By reducing external noise, it creates a more peaceful indoor environment.

Cost-Effective Solution

Retrofitting windows with optical grade acrylic is a more affordable option compared to replacing existing windows with traditional double glazing. It offers similar thermal benefits without the need for extensive renovations, making it a practical choice for Adelaide homeowners.

Optical Grade Acrylic in Action

Retrofitting for Adelaide’s Heritage Homes

Adelaide is known for its charming heritage homes, which often come with single-pane windows that offer little thermal insulation. Optical grade acrylic provides a non-invasive solution for improving energy efficiency while preserving the aesthetic of these historic properties. Since it doesn’t require removing the original windows, it’s ideal for maintaining the character of heritage homes.

Western-Facing Windows in Suburban Homes

Many homes in Adelaide’s suburbs, such as Glenelg or Norwood, struggle with heat gain through western-facing windows. Adding optical grade acrylic panels to these windows can significantly reduce heat infiltration during the summer, creating a more comfortable living space.

Noise and Temperature Control for Urban Apartments

For apartments in Adelaide’s city centre, where noise and temperature fluctuations can be a challenge, optical grade acrylic offers a dual solution. It minimises street noise while ensuring the interiors remain cool in summer and warm in winter.

In a city like Adelaide, where the climate can swing from one extreme to another, investing in optical grade acrylic is a practical choice. By improving windows’ thermal insulation, helps create a comfortable living environment year-round while reducing your carbon footprint and energy costs.

If you’re considering upgrading your windows, explore the benefits of optical grade acrylic—it’s a solution that’s as innovative as it is effective or speak with the team over at Magnetite Adelaide.

  1. Conduction
    Heat moving through an object (i.e. heat will travel through an aluminium, or steel frame more easily than through a timber or PVC frame).
  2. Radiant heat
    Heat from the direct sun. It can pass through space until reflected or absorbed.
  3. Convection
    Heat flow resulting from air movement e.g. either 'natural' convection - warm air rises, or 'forced' convection - a breeze by a window, both can result in a draught by a window.
  4. Infiltration
    Air leaks around the frame, around the window sash and through the gaps in the movable window parts.

When evaluating your options to improve the thermal performance of your windows, the following double glazing key performance criteria should be considered:

  • U-Value (Uw) represents heat transfer through a window, irrespective of direct sunlight. The lower a window’s U-Value, the better the insulation performance.
  • Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) measures the solar energy that passes through glazing. The lower the SHGC, the less solar heat is transmitted through a window.
  • Air Infiltration or leakage measures the rate at which air passes through gaps in window joins and seals. The lower the air infiltration, the better a window’s energy performance.

The Window Energy Rating Scheme (WERS) Thermal Performance

Aluminium Frame Windows

Glazing Type Cooling Stars Heating Stars Cool% Heat% Uw SHGC
Single glazed 3mm clear glass* half blue star red starhalf red star 7.4 0.77
Single glazed 3mm clear glass &
4.5mm Magnetite		 blue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starred starhalf red star 35% 59% 2.9 0.67

Timber Frame Windows

Glazing Type Cooling Stars Heating Stars Cool% Heat% Uw SHGC
Single glazed 3mm clear glass* blue starhalf blue star red starred starred starhalf red star 20% 28% 5.5 0.69
Single glazed 3mm clear glass &
4.5mm Magnetite		 blue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starred starred star 37% 61% 2.6 0.66
Single glazed 3mm clear glass with
Solartite** and 4.5mm Magnetite		 blue starblue starblue starblue starblue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starhalf red star 76% 45% 1.8 0.20

 

*WERS standard typical industry window
**Solartite is a range of high performance window film. The window tested above has Solartite’s low-e film.

Magnetite vs Traditional Double Glazing – What the experts says

Winter - the ideal situation is to let in as much of the sun's heat and then trap it inside to maintain a comfortable environment in your home or office. This will also significantly reduce heating costs and saves you money. The ideal window for winter will have a high SHGC to let the sun's heat in and a low U-Value to prevent the heat from escaping. Clear windows without shading films are better suited for winter climates.

Compared with traditional double-glazing, Magnetite’s double-glazing solution can provide better results during winter or for cold climate areas such as Canberra, the Adelaide Hills and Blue Mountains.

Magnetite's clear acrylic window panels allow the direct heat from the sun's rays to enter the building and once inside, Magnetite's superior magnetic seals retain the heat, giving Magnetite an advantage over conventional operating windows.

Glazing Type Cooling Stars Heating Stars Cool% Heat% Uw SHGC AI
Double Glazed 3mm clear glass/12mm air
gap/3mm clear glass IGU (Insulated Glass Unit)*		 blue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starred starhalf red star 40% 55% 3.0 0.61 5.0
Single glazed 3mm clear glass &
4.5mm Magnetite		 blue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starred starred star 37% 61% 2.6 0.66 0.5

 

*WERS standard typical industry window

Summer - the ideal situation is to minimize the heat coming in from outside and prevent the cool air inside from escaping through the window. This will make your home more comfortable and reduce your air-conditioning costs. The ideal window for summer, or for a large west-facing window, will have a low SHGC to limit the heat from the sun's direct rays, as well as, a low U-Value to prevent the heat in the air outside from moving through the window and warming the cool conditioned air inside. It is better to have a shading film on the first (outer) glass pane to limit the heat that enters the double glazed unit.

The combination of Magnetite retrofit double glazing and Solartite outperforms the traditional insulated glass unit for hot climate. Magnetite fit over an existing window with reflective film will give better summer heat control than a double-glazed window with supertoned glass.

The Magnetite system stops the conduction and convection of heat better than glass windows giving superior results for summer conditions. Combined with a film or a shading device, Magnetite is the ideal solution for the hot Australian conditions.

Glazing Type Cooling Stars Heating Stars Cool% Heat% Uw SHGC AI
Double Glazed 5mm Supertoned glass/6mm
air gap/5mm clear glass IGU (Insulated Glass Unit)*		 blue starblue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred starhalf red star 54% 425% 3.30 0.461 5.0
Single glazed 3mm glass Solartite**
and 4.5mm Magnetite		 blue starblue starblue starblue starblue starhalf blue star red starred starred starred star 73% 38% 2.4 0.19 0.5

 

*WERS standard typical industry window
**Solartite is a range of high performance window film. The window tested above has Solartite’s low-e film.

Click here to view pdf version of Magnetite WERS test result.

Noise Reduction Technical Data and Results

Proven Results

Noise pollution is one the biggest problems faced in the cities today, particularly in a high-density living. Unwanted noise can be responsible for sleep loss and lack of concentration. This can lead to a deterioration of health through increased stress levels, headaches, high blood pressure and loss of hearing.

Noise penetrates windows through leaky seals or vibrations through the window structure. To reduce noise, a window should minimise air infiltration, hold enough weight to limit vibration and allow a large air cavity. This cavity, or air gap, is the key to secondary glazing.

Expert Advice:

CSIRO Research by John Davy shown an air cavity can effectively enhance sound insulation performance. The larger the air cavity the more noise the window system can reduce. Results show a wide air gap of 100-125mm will improve sound insulation by an average of 7dB(A) more than windows with a narrow gap of 8-13mm.

Window or Glass Door Type Total Glass Thickness (mm) Air Cavity Thickness (mm) Sound Insulation (dB)
Single Glaze 3mm 3 0 23
Single Glaze 6mm 6 0 27
Double Glaze Narrow Gap 9-12 8-13 31
Double Glaze Wide Gap 9-12 100-125 38

 

The human ear is less sensitive to low frequency sound. According to a study released by the CSIRO, the human ear needs a change of 3dB to detect a difference in noise levels and the human ear perceives a change of 10dB as a doubling or halving of the noise level.

If you double the thickness of glass in a window the noise level will decrease by 3dB the least amount possible to make a difference. If the glass is laminated there is no perceived difference in noise reduction.

National Acoustic Laboratory Testing:

Working with the principles of noise transfer, Magnetite® and Soundtite are designed for high performance, which is achieved by combining air tight seals with the ability to maximize an air cavity and the flexibility to vary glazing thickness to suit. Magnetite® is excellent at reducing general noise such as busy roads, commuter trains and noisy neighbours. Whereas, Soundtite works well to combat low frequencies noise such as garbage truck, freight trains or airplane during take-off and landing.

Test Code Material Tested Rw* Improvement
ATF 707 (test window) Aluminium sliding window, 3mm float glass with mohair seals 23 N/A
ATF 709 Test window, 100mm air gap and Magnetite System (4.5mm acrylic panel) 35 52%
ATF 1507 Test window, 100mm air gap and Magnetite System (10.0mm acrylic panel) 39 70%
ATF 817 Test window, 100mm air gap and Soundtite (6.38mm laminated glass) 41 78%

 

*The Weighted Sound Reduction Index (Rw) is a measure for sound insulation performance of a single building element such as windows. The higher the Rw rating, the better the sound insulation.