Azon has pioneered green building technology for manufacturers of fenestration products for over three decades.

Found in prominent buildings everywhere, the Azon structural thermal barrier polymer for aluminium windows and warm-edge spacer for insulating glass enable clients to save valuable energy resources.
The company slogan is “Azon Saves Energy.” Conserving energy resources, while reducing greenhouse gases, is possible when windows are produced with Azon structural thermal barrier technologies in aluminium framing and insulated glass units (IGU’s).
When designing architectural windows, structural performance and longevity is the first consideration. Compare the desired properties for materials used in fenestration framing and aluminium always comes to the forefront. Aluminium is often described as the material that revolutionised modern construction. The combination of strength and rigidity, ease-of-fabrication and light weight, make aluminium the ideal building material. Beyond structural factors, aluminium, as well as the glazing system that lets in daylight, needs improving to be viable energy conservators.
Several major components contribute to the energy efficiency of aluminium windows and doors as depicted in infrared imaging, Figure1:

Framing
Insulating thermal barriers, such as the Azon pour and debridge method, reduce heat flow through highly conductive aluminium framing. (See Figure 2)

Glass and glazing
Adding a low E coating to the interior surface of one of the panes of insulated glass will lower the total U–value by reducing thermal infrared emittance and radiant heat transfer.

Spacer - warm-edge spacer
Another critical element in the window assembly is the air spacer material in the insulating glass unit. Replacing the traditional aluminium box spacer with the registered Azon Warm-Light warm-edge technology spacer bar further reduces the total window’s U-value to boost the condensation resistance of glass.

Air space
The final component to be improved in a window is the dehydrated air space inside the glass unit. Heavy, inert gases, such as argon, infused to replace the air will reduce heat movement by conduction and convection through the insulating glass unit.
The four technologies combined—structural thermal barriers, low E, Azon Warm-Light spacer and gas in the air space—are a vital step toward sustainable buildings.

About the pour and debridge process
Known globally as Azon structural thermal barrier, the three-step pour and debridge process results in an energy saving aluminium window frame with the advantage of long-term durability and freedom from structural deterioration.  Azon supplies the machinery and polymer and can also assist with window designs for pour and debridge systems.

Step 1 Design
An aluminium profile is designed and extruded with a strategically placed channel to limit the mass of metal on the externally exposed surface.
The channel design—or extrusion gap—is intended to act as a receptor for an insulating, structural thermal barrier.

Step 2 Pour
Employing an Azon mixing and dispensing machine, Azon polyurethane is introduced as a liquid into the thermal barrier channel. Within minutes the thermal core solidifies into a very strong, structural polymer.

Step 3 Debridge
The extrusion is transported to an Azon debridging machine for the third step in the process—removal of the metal bridge from the bottom of the channel resulting in a thermal barrier aluminium and polymer composite.

Testing and quality assurance standards
Azon’s polymers for use in thermal barrier composites are specifically designed for applications where structural integrity of windows is crucial. Ongoing monitoring of the process by window producers is essential to ensure that the finished product meets and performs to the criterion published by American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) relating to thermal barriers. The insulating media that replaces aluminium in the thermal barrier link cannot compromise a window’s structural capacity and resistance to environmental exposure, UV degradation, moisture, weathering effects on the polymer during high and low temperature swings.
Azon conducts the most comprehensive quality validation discipline in the window industry. As part of the quality control and service programme, customers routinely pour test plaques and submit the solidified polymer (the thermal barrier media) to the Azon test facility. Once the plaques are tested and evaluated, the results are stored in an electronic quality audit database (E-Quality Audit). Other technology services offered to manufacturers to help ensure quality standards include window design and British Fenestration Rating Council’s (BFRC) certified computer-generated thermal simulations.

Superior fenestration performance
From security concerns, to meeting energy codes, to unbounded design options—polyurethane thermal barrier systems offer smarter, greener, more intelligent possibilities for technologically advanced buildings. Details matter when comfort and performance are required for building occupants, which is why building professionals turn to manufacturers that use Azon polyurethane thermal barriers and insulating glass spacer.