Safety Glass Options

Safety glass is a type of glass which is designed to resist breaking, and to break in a way which minimizes the risk of injuries in the event that the glass cannot withstand the forces which are exerted on it. Car windows are classically made from safety glass to promote safety in collisions, and this type of glass also being used in regular house windows wherever needed.

The primary purpose of safety glass is making a task safer by protecting people from sharp glass shards. Shards of glass can cause severe injuries or even death, magnifying an accident into a medical emergency.

There are two ways in which "Safety Glass" works: Tempering or Laminating.

Tempered glass is made by treating the glass very carefully as it is heated and cooled to increase its tensile strength, making it hard to break. If tempered glass does break, it snaps apart into rounded chunks, rather than breaking up into jagged pieces which could potentially be very dangerous.

 Tempered glass after breakage

 

Laminated glass is made by sandwiching a sheet of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) in between two pieces of glass. The glass is stronger because of the layering and reinforcement, and when it does break, the plastic essentially acts like tape, holding the glass in place instead of allowing the sharp shards to fall.

 Laminated glass breakage