Steel window frames, advantages and disadvantages

Steel window frames are the most often used in residential, public and industrial buildings.  Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages.

Doors and windows represent the most exposed part of the edifices. For this reason, they must be resistant to atmospheric agents, including water and salt, and must guarantee a long-lasting life cycle so as to avoid repeated interventions on the structures. It is also important to contribute to the aesthetics of the building in which they are placed, emphasizing the harmony of the architecture.

In order for this set of characteristics to coexist, it is necessary to choose a material that has an unparalleled series of advantages combined with practically non-existent disadvantages. Flexible and resistant, stainless steel is shaped according to the technical and structural needs of the place where it is used and placed, without invasively affecting the expected style.

Thanks to its great experience in the production of door and window frames, Capoferri prefers steel, which has all the fundamental features for the realization of a window that is destined to live for a long time.

Let’s sum up the requirements that make stainless steel so special and all the advantages  it brings to steel window frames:

• versatility;
• self-repairing properties;
• anti-corrosiveness;
• resistance to high and low temperatures;
• workability;
• low magnetic permeability;
• recyclability;
• aesthetics.

Before going into the details of the many advantages of this material, we want to discover all the characteristics and why it is perfect for window frames.

Characteristics of steel window frames

Taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of steel,  let us analyze all the characteristics of steel window frames.

The stainless-steel window frames owe their durability to the chromium layer which oxidizes in contact with air, and creates a thin protective surface layer. This protection is particularly useful in environments exposed to wear caused by time and weather.

In fact, this surface layer has properties that we could define as self-healing, which allow the product to automatically repair small surface damage that has occurred over time.

One of the most interesting characteristics of stainless steel window frames is its resistance to high and low temperatures. This makes them particularly suitable for manufacturing, as they are at the same time resistant and workable.

This allows the creation of very thin and extremely light profiles with high mechanical performance.

Their resistance also allows them to be polished and subsequently treated for aesthetic and protective purposes.

The combination of these characteristics makes it possible to create items, mechanisms and structures that, with minimal maintenance, offer maximum results.

Thus, the production of stainless steel window frames boasts a great aesthetic appeal, which makes the product unique and easily insertable into the general harmony of the context it belongs to.

Steel windows advantages

Due to its characteristics, steel windows offer many advantages in processing and production.

Let’s analyze them to better understand why steel is the best material for windows and doors.

First of all, the oxide layer that chromium forms in contact with the air is an effective protection over time, which makes the window frames resistant to corrosion and the action of atmospheric agents. In fact, thanks to stainless steel self-repairing features, the damaged or cut parts repair themselves independently, maintaining their initial strength.

The positive repercussions in terms of savings are significant, because steel ensures very long life cycles, with almost no maintenance costs.

Added to this is the high workability and resistance to long-lasting cycles through high or low temperatures. From this come finely worked elements, flexible for the purpose of use, durable and with great performance also from a mechanical point of view.

Among the main advantages of steel we certainly have to include lightness. It is a fundamental requirement when we talk about large structures such as those of doors and windows, which must be easily moved, effortlessly and without risk.
Last but not least is recyclability, an essential prerogative in this historical moment that sees the environment and its fragility at the center of the attention of us all.

Tailor made steel windows

Tailor made steel windows play a decisive role in the production of doors and windows, both in apartments, villas and public buildings with administrative, cultural or religious functions.

As we can see from the argumentation, steel is perfect for making tailor made stainless steel windows that are light and easy to handle. They are the result of custom-made processes with attention to uniqueness and detail.

Cutting, welding and forming are part of a much broader creative process that starts with the  customers’ needs, combines them with the structural and environmental ones and transforms them into performing and resistant products, which are perfectly inserted in the context they belong to.

The high customization also attracts internationally renowned architects and great designers to Capoferri, such as Renzo Piano, Michele de Lucchi, David Chipperfield, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Antonio Citterio & Partners and many others for whom the production of personalized windows goes hand in hand with the demand for great engineering.

Thanks to this we can see prestigious masterpieces such as the stainless steel tailor made windows and the vestibule of the Agnelli Art Gallery at the Lingotto in Turin, the escalators of the Adjaye Associate in Beirut or parapets, bronze doors and partitions for the main entrance of the J.P. Morgan Library by RPBW in New York.