Safety Glass
All automobiles as well as public buildings have safety glass in them. As per regulations, these structures and vehicles need to have safety glass to be compliant with legal safety requirements.
Laminated glass
There are primarily two kinds of safety glass namely laminated glass and tempered glass. One of the oldest auto glass types is the laminated version. It involves placement of a substance called polyvinyl butyral or PVB between two glass pieces. At times, to aid in more strength, more glass pieces maybe placed above and below the PVB. The mid-layer of this special plastic film helps to adhere the pieces of glass to each other. Hence, even if an accident were to take place, the glass would be prevented from flying off. Most fatal injuries in accidents happen from flying glass pieces.
Why laminated glass is so good
One of the reasons the laminated version of safety glass is so great is because it is very difficult to penetrate it. The middle layer of PVB might stretch and still the glass pieces would remain stuck to each other. Compared to conventional glass panes on windows, the laminated glass is much thicker. In fact, in cases of serious accidents, it has been laminated glass, which has helped the people inside a vehicle remain in there. The sandwich effect of the PVB and the glass around helps to accomplish this. When multiple layers of laminated glass is used, then even bullets can be stopped from penetrating the glass. In fact, many banks use multiple safety glass layers, which have been laminated. The other benefits of using laminated glass is that sound transmissions are reduced and as much as 97% of UV radiation can be blocked with such safety glass.
Common objects in which frequently employ the usage of laminated glass include shower enclosures, greenhouse windows, cutting boards, thermometers for measuring body temperatures, office partitions and many others.
Tempered glass
Another kind of safety glass is the tempered variety. Unlike the laminated glass, which has many pieces of glass and a sandwiched PVB film inside, the tempered glass comprises only one piece. Intense heat is used on the glass and then cooled very quick to make the safety glass hard. Compared to the conventional non-tempered forms of glass, tempered glass is 5 or 10 times harder. Tempered glass if hit, will break into very small pieces, which resemble pebbles. These pieces do not have any jagged edges, making the chances of injury lesser. These kinds of safety glass are most commonly used in rear and side windows in auto vehicles. Even some forms of eyewear use such tempered glass on them.
Other objects where tempered glass is used
Some of the other items where tempered glass is widely used include LCDs or Liquid Crystal Displays, oven doors, computer monitors, storm doors, skylights as well as the refrigerator shelves.
Thus, by using such forms of safety glass both vehicles and homes can be well-protected. These safety glass versions are very thick and cannot be damaged easily.
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