Toughened Glass – What you need to know

Toughened Glass – What you need to know

19th March 2020

Lets go back…

Toughened glass, or commonly known as tempered glass, was invented back in the 17^th century (1) during an experiment. A piece of molten glass was dropped into cold water and consequently resulted in extremely hard glass. It was then in the 1930’s that companies began producing large quantities of toughened glass (2) and started to understand the value of this process.

But what exactly is toughened glass?

Great Question. Toughened glass is a form of safety glass. Certain steps are taken, such as tempering float glass followed by rapid cooling to add this additional safety element. Toughened glass is most commonly used in doors, windows, showers, and balustrades. However, it can also be found in automobiles, glass roofing and escalators (3).

 

 

Did you hear the joke about smashed glass? It wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

One of the main benefits of toughened glass is that by adding this additional feature, if broken the glass will smash into smaller pieces (very similar to smashed ice).  It also makes the glass up to 4 times stronger than float glass (4). Although, there is never a 100% guarantee that glass won’t smash, this toughened process does add a little piece of mind to customers.

 

Tell me more!

• • Toughened Glass is a Grade A safety glass.
  • Toughened glass can be heat soaked, to add a secondary level of safety.
  • Tough glass can be combined in custom laminated make ups.

  Wait, have we mentioned… laminated glass was invented by accident? That’s a blog post for another time…

 

References:

• http://keraglass.co.uk/newsen.php?n=197
• https://gharpedia.com/blog/toughened-glass-properties-and-applications/
• https://www.janssenglass.com/blog/importance-safety-glass/