17 Facts About Tempered glass

Tempered or toughened glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass.

Such stresses cause the Tempered glass, when broken, to shatter into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards as ordinary annealed Tempered glass does.

Tempered glass is used for its safety and strength in a variety of applications, including passenger vehicle windows, shower doors, aquariums, architectural glass doors and tables, refrigerator trays, mobile phone screen protectors, bulletproof glass components, diving masks, and plates and cookware.

Fully tempered 6-mm thick glass must have either a minimum surface compression of 69 MPa or an edge compression of not less than 67 MPa .

Annealed Tempered glass has almost no internal stress and usually forms microscopic cracks on its surface.

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Tension applied to the Tempered glass can drive crack propagation which, once begun, concentrates tension at the tip of the crack driving crack propagation at the speed of sound through the Tempered glass.

Consequently, annealed Tempered glass is fragile and breaks into irregular and sharp pieces.

The compressive stresses on the surface of tempered glass contain flaws, preventing their propagation or expansion.

Tempered glass is used when strength, thermal resistance, and safety are important considerations.

Tempered glass is used in buildings for unframed assemblies, structurally loaded applications, and any other application that would become dangerous in the event of human impact.

Some common household furniture and appliances that use tempered glass are frameless shower doors, glass table tops, glass shelves, cabinet glass and glass for fireplaces.

Tempered glass has seen increased usage in bars and pubs, particularly in the United Kingdom and Australia, to prevent broken glass being used as a weapon.

Tempered glass can be made from annealed glass via a thermal tempering process.

The Tempered glass is then rapidly cooled with forced air drafts while the inner portion remains free to flow for a short time.

Tempered glass must be cut to size or pressed to shape before tempering, and cannot be re-worked once tempered.

Tempered glass is sometimes known as Bastie glass after de la Bastie.

The first patent on a whole process to make tempered glass was held by chemist Rudolph A Seiden who was born in 1900 in Austria and emigrated to the United States in 1935.