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Where toughness is a virtue: toughened glass

Toughened or tempered glass is processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to boost its potency compared with normal glass. Tempered glass is made by processes which make balanced interior stresses which provide the glass power. Tempered glass will usually smash into little fragments instead of sharp shards when wrecked, making it less likely to cause harsh injury and deep lacerations. For its security and power, tempered glass is used in a variety of difficult applications, like for vehicle windows, glass doors and tables, as a part of bulletproof glass, for somersaulting masks, and various types of plates and cookware.

Toughened glass is used when power, thermal resistance and security are significant considerations. The most usually encountered tempered glass is that used for side and rear windows in cars, used for its trait of shattering into small cubes rather than large shards. Tempered glass is also used in buildings for unframed assemblies (such as frameless doors), structurally-loaded applications, and any other function that would become hazardous in the event of individual crash. Toughened glass is used in some cell phones such as the Apple i-Phone and LG Secret due to its scratch-resistant assets.

Rim tempered indicates an inadequate area such as the rim of the glass or plate is tempered and is well-liked in foodstuff repair.

The word toughened glass is usually used to explain fully tempered glass but is sometimes used to explain heat strengthened glass as both types undergo a thermal 'toughening' process. There are two major types of heat treated glass, heat strengthened and fully tempered. Heat strengthened glass is two times as strong as annealed glass whilst fully tempered glass is normally four to six times the potency of annealed glass and withstands heating in microwave ovens. The differentiation is the residual stress in the edge and glass surface.

05 June 09