Safety glass
Glass engineered to reduce breakage and injury risk.
Safety glass is glass with additional safety features that make it less likely to break, or less likely to become a hazard when broken. Common designs include toughened glass (also known as tempered glass), laminated glass, and wire mesh glass (also known as wired glass). These three approaches can easily be combined, allowing for the creation of glass that is at the same time toughened, laminated, and contains a wire mesh. In many developed countries safety glass is part of the building regulations making properties safer.
- field
- Glass technology and building safety
- known_for
- Creating glass that is less likely to break or less hazardous when broken
Lore & Background
It is processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering creates balanced internal stresses which cause the glass sheet, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards. It has a grid or mesh of thin metal wire embedded within the glass. Despite common belief, wired glass is actually weaker than unwired glass due to the incursions of the wire into the structure of the glass, and may cause heightened injury. It is composed of layers of glass and plastic held together by an interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB). When broken, it is held in place by the interlayer, producing a characteristic 'spider web' cracking pattern.
Reader's Guide
Safety glass has become essential in modern construction and transportation. Toughened glass is used in passenger vehicle windows, shower doors, architectural glass doors and tables, refrigerator trays, bulletproof glass, diving masks, and cookware. In the United States, federal law since 1977 has required safety glass located within doors and tub and shower enclosures. Laminated glass is normally used where human impact is possible or where glass could fall if shattered, such as skylight glazing and automobile windshields. It also provides higher sound insulation and blocks most UV radiation. Wire mesh glass is used in the US for its fire-resistant abilities, and is well-rated to withstand both heat and hose streams. However, its use has declined due to safety concerns. Canada's building codes still permit it but are being reviewed, while Australia has no similar review. New materials offering both fire-ratings and safety ratings have led to worldwide debate about the continued use of wired glass.
More in Manufacturing And Materials 1-24
Elsewhere in the Manufacturing And Materials universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record