Toughened Glass are also known as Tempered Glass, so you already noticed that both names are usually used for the same type of glass. This type of glass is usually way more stronger than the regular glass, up to 5x stronger.
Toughened glass – also known as tempered glass – is up to five times stronger than regular glass. This is achieved by heating regular glass at high temperatures (650°C) and then cooling very quickly.
Toughened glass, also known as tempered glass after its method of production, is a type of safety glass that is five times stronger than annealed and laminated glass of the same size and thickness.
Laminated glass is even more beneficial, heightening both security and safety. Under impact, the plastic interlayer in the laminated glass holds the whole structure together – this means no hole is left to bait thieves, and also means that dangerous shards do not scatter in the surrounding area.
Toughened glass is known to have higher thermal strength, with the ability to withstand high temperatures up to 250°C. A safety glass, toughened glass is difficult to break but in the event of a breakage, disintegrates into small blunt pieces.
Toughened glass is five times stronger than regular glass, and thus can bear load without breakage. This safety and resilient quality of toughened glass makes it a perfect fit for homes, especially those with young children.
10mm Toughened Glass is up to five times stronger than ordinary (float) glass of the same thickness. Because of its increased strength, Toughened Glass allows architects and builders far greater scope in their use of glass in buildings.
Toughened glass is up to five times as strong as ordinary glass which means that it has to be hit much harder in order to break, also when it does break it is into lots of small pieces which are much less dangerous.
In the UK it is a requirement to have safety glass fitted in windows and doors in certain areas of your home. Those areas are up to 150 cm over finished floor level for doors and side panels within 30 cm of the door edges and any window under 80 cm over finished floor levels.
Disadvantages of Tempered Glass
Although it is much stronger than conventional glass, when tempered glass does break it will completely shatter. This leaves you even more vulnerable to forced entry since criminals are so easily able to gain access by damaging just one piece of glass.
6mm Toughened Glass is up to five times stronger than ordinary (float) glass of the same thickness. Because of its increased strength, Toughened Glass allows architects and builders far greater scope in their use of glass in buildings.
Applications of Toughened Glass
Due to its structural strength, it is used in architectural applications such as glass doors, partition walls and windows on the side of buildings. In-office spaces, toughened glass can enhance the environment when used in glass doors, desks and partitions.
And never try to drill through tempered or safety glass. It's designed to shatter on impact. TIP: You can tell the difference between tempered glass and annealed, or regular plate, glass with the following tests: Tempered glass has smooth, even edges.
You can cut tempered glass with an angle grinder with a diamond wheel as if it where stone. Pretty risky though, you need to make precautions or else glass will be flying everywhere. You also need to have special polishing equipment to clean up the cut.
Is Tempered Glass Toxic? Several studies have shown that some types of glasses contain potentially toxic levels of lead and cadmium. Most research on the toxicity of glasses is centered around tableware – drinking glasses and plates. Tempered glass as tableware does not contain lead and has no side effect on humans.
One of the best ways to burglar-proof windows is to install polycarbonate safety shields, like DefenseLite, over your existing windows. Polycarbonate is 250 times stronger than glass and nearly impenetrable by would-be thieves.
Layers of toughened glass are bonded together to form a safe and strong surface, suitable for pedestrians to walk upon.
Laminated glass is created by sandwiching a durable plastic interlayer (usually polyvinyl butyral, or PVB) between two panes of strengthened glass. The glass and PVB are chemically bonded to one another during the manufacturing process, making it incredibly difficult to break. Laminated glass doubles as a safety glass.
If you're interested in unbreakable glass that truly lives up to its name, polycarbonate panels are the type you want. Polycarbonate panels are significantly more difficult to break than both standard glass windows and laminated glass mentioned above.
Laminated security glass or laminated safety glass is a type of robust, shatterproof glass composed of a thermoplastic interlayer sandwiched between glass panels. Though not truly “unbreakable,” this type of security glass can withstand heavy, repeated impacts.
Technically speaking, tempered glass has a minimum surface compression of 10,000 pounds-per-square-inch (psi) and minimum edge compression of 9,700 psi, according to ASTM C1048. That makes it about four times stronger than annealed glass.
Tempered glass has smooth edges
A tempered glass needs to be sandblasted. So, one good way is to look thoroughly at the edges of the glass. Tempered sheets have smooth and even edges because of the extra processing it goes through. On the other hand, if the glass is not tempered, the edges feel rough to touch.
Although the strength of 8mm tempered glass is stronger than that of ordinary glass, 8mm tempered glass has the possibility of self-explosion (self-rupture), while ordinary glass does not have the possibility of self-explosion.
3/8" (10mm) used in shower doors, table tops, glass walls, glass partitions, hand rails, door lights, etc.