Essentially, safety glass is particularly designed to be not prone to breakage and thus, prevents causing injuries to people. It also generally refers to glass that is intended to be made for added strength and fire resistance. It comes in two primary types - tempered glass and heat-strengthened glass. Tempered glass is being cooled at a faster rate than heat-strengthened glass while the latter is also cooled at a quicker rate than regular glass. Another proven way to add more strength to the glass is to use more than one liter of glass in manufacturing it. To help you better decide which one to go for, we are going to discuss each type below.
Tempered Glass: The Toughened Glass
This type of safety glass is created by heating the regular annealed glass evenly. Once heated, it is being cooled rapidly via the process called quenching wherein there is uniform blowing of air into both sides of the glass. Quenching is done to increase both the compression and tension forces on the surface of the glass as well as the inside of it. This cooling process is what makes the glass four times much stronger than its annealed version and hence the name as toughened glass. This tempering adds up to the tensile strength of this safety glass. Tempered glass comes in various thicknesses.
The Heat-Strengthened Glass
As you can guess by its name, this type of glass is also made under high heat and then being cooled but at a slower rate, affecting the strength of the safety glass. The glass can be made stronger by modifying the rate of the cooling process. The only drawback with this glass is the fact that it still shatters into huge and jagged pieces, making it less qualified to be called safety glass. Still, it is much stronger than annealed glass and is very resistant to impacts.
Whichever is your option, we can give you the best glass quality for your particular application. Call us today to learn more about your options.
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