Aqua-Perle
Low-maintenance glass by RONAL 
The highest-quality anti-plaque glass treatment
Merits
- Continuous, water-repellant film of a permanent nature
- Prevents the sedimentation of impurities and bacteria and the formation of scale on glass
- Glass surfaces require less frequent cleaning
- The Aqua-Perle function depends on water hardness up to 8 years
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Clean-All
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After-Care
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Limescale Remover
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Double effect of glass improvement
On untreated glass the minerals contained in water, detergent and impurities residues create sediments on the glass surface after drying out.
Glass treated with Aqua-Perle
- A current of water running on a treated glass surface does not create a continuous film but merges into strands that slide off the glass more efficiently without leaving numerous drops on the glass that can dry out and create dirty sediments.
- Residual sediments do not remain directly on the articulated surface micro-structure of glass but in the protective layer of the surface improvement coating from which they can be removed much more easily.
Untreated glass with Aqua-Perle
Aqua-Perle technology
- This technology uses a mixture of polymers that react – with the aid of a catalyst – with the silicon contained in glass and creates a mesh structure.
- It is sprayed on perfectly clean, chemically and thermally pre-treated glass on which a maturing process then takes place.
- The RONAL Company uses a special production line which ensures the precise observance of technological procedures and the high resulting quality of the improved glass.
Aqua-Perle – a pearl among sanitary equipment
Improved glass resists corrosion
The terms scale, dirt sediments on glass or glass bloom are well known in lay circles, however, the common denominator of these problems – i.e. glass corrosion - is heard less. Effective prevention of this problem on the part of manufacturing and processing businesses has recently become commonplace.
Glass is one of the most universal and applied materials in the construction industry. Due to its unique properties, it is used in a broad range of interior and exterior applications. The most typical examples are the glazing of doors and windows, decorative glass or the glazing of shower enclosures.
New glass is crystal clear and promises to remain translucent and – for a certain time – also clean; however, the real life of this promise is soon affected by adverse ambient conditions, corrosion and air pollution, as well as by the effects of detergents and other construction materials.
Both glass manufacturers and processors paid only a little attention to the protection of this surface material due to several reasons: No special technologies or protective agents existed then or they were too expensive. The pressure on the customers' part was not so pronounced either. In the last few years, the situation has changed radically – the range of glass applications is growing hand in hand with demands for glass maintenance.
Glass properties 
The glass is not perfectly smooth on its surface which is made of microscopic craters and valleys. Therefore, glass is a naturally hydrophilic material, i.e. it attracts and retains water. This is the first precondition for the initiation of a glass corrosion process. With regard to its chemical composition, glass is a material rich in ions of which water is short. On their contact surfaces the ions transfer into a material with a lower concentration. Water evaporates and the accumulated ions remain on the glass surface. The ions mix with new water to create extracts that are aggressive and cause the glass to corrode. The surface further reacts with certain elements which are obtained from minerals and hard water particles, silicone cements, residual soap and fat from cosmetic products, masonry, dust and the like. Corrosion and collected impurities make a glazed surface even more articulated, which does not prevent the sedimentation and reproduction of bacteria. A corroded and dirty glass surface is difficult to clean and its aesthetic value markedly reduces in time. Every owner of a shower enclosure probably has his/her own experience with keeping such an unprotected glass surface clean. As a rule, shower enclosures are cleaned with detergents containing acids (such as acetic acid, oxalic acid) which provide the first optical effect but their long-term working only aggravates the above-described corrosion process. The owner of such a shower enclosure has to carry out glass cleaning and maintenance at shorter and shorter intervals, whereas the effect of these maintenance activities is reduced continually.
Glass surface protection
The last decade has witnessed customers' growing interest in the long-term maintenance of glass and in the protection of glass surfaces, considering their aesthetical qualities.
The RONAL Company supplies a protective Aqua-Perle layer for the glass surfaces of its products; this layer retains the same optical property of glass yet it makes its natural hydrophilic surface (i.e. which attracts water) hydrophobic (i.e. which repels water). The water that gets stuck in the protective layer cannot react with the glass surface and thus prevents its corrosion. The treated surface is much more resistant against the capture of hard particles from water, minerals and other impurities as well as against the reproduction of bacteria.
This modern modification works on the basis of mixed polymers that react with the silicon contained in the glass, in the presence of a catalyst, and they simultaneously react with each other. They create a homogenous mesh structure that becomes part of the glass surface. This feature makes Aqua-Perle principally different from standard silicon-based protective agents that can create only a simple chain structure, i.e. the service life of such a protective layer is substantially shorter.
Observance of technology – a precondition for quality
The chemical bond between the Aqua-Perle protective layer and the glass surface is permanent (which is different from common, water-repellant, 'auto-wax'-type films). Regular maintenance thus consists of washing with non-aggressive dish washing detergent or another product recommended by the manufacturer. Depending on the quality of the water and the nature of the environment to which the Aqua-Perle protective layer is exposed, the assumed frequency of cleaning is three to five times less than that in standard glass. The service life of the protective layer is up to eight years, subject to the completion of proper maintenance according to the manufacturer's instructions. This brings not only a long-term aesthetic impression of the glass product but also a positive economical aspect of its maintenance.
The production plants of the RONAL Company use a special application line which ensures the precise observance of technological procedures, resulting in the high quality of the Aqua-Perle glass improvement. The film is sprayed on perfectly clean, chemically and thermally pre-prepared glass. Afterwards, further thermal processing takes place, i.e. maturing, and redundant polymers are washed off after the process is over. Markedly reduced frictional resistance of the final surface can be detected by mere touch; this primary effect becomes even more pronounced when using a small amount of water which merges into chains as soon as it contacts the surface and its weight makes it pour off the surface, leaving behind nothing but marginal traces of its presence.
The quality and efficiency of the Aqua-Perle protective layer has been proven in many years of application and further research not only in the field of shower enclosures but also in various branches of the construction industry.
