Tempered Glass vs. Laminated Glass for Residential Use
Laminated glass and tempered glass are both common in residential applications. Each can appear as part of furniture, doors and windows. Both types of glass are significantly stronger than normal annealed glass and both are considered safety glass. Laminated glass provides more security than tempered glass, which is better suited to interior applications such as in cabinets and interior doors.
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About Tempered Glass
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Tempered glass begins as annealed glass, which is cut to the desired size prior to being treated. Once cut, the glass is placed in a tempering oven in which it is heated until it reaches its softening point and then cooled rapidly with air blasting from nozzles placed at various positions in the oven. The edges of the glass cool more quickly than the center, which remains in tension as a result, while the edges compress. This gives tempered glass four to five times more strength than untempered glass of the same thickness.
About Laminated Glass
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Laminated glass is manufactured by layering poly vinyl butryral, also called PVB, between two or more pieces of annealed glass. The PVB acts as a bonding agent and increases the strength of the glass because it maintains its shape in the event of breakage, eliminating the risk of thousands of tiny shards. This interlayer of PVB may be different thicknesses, with the thicker layers providing a stronger glass than thinner layers.
Safety and Security
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Tempered glass is not designed to resist breaking. Instead, it is intended to prevent or minimize injury upon breaking by shattering into thousands of small, blunt pieces instead of razor-sharp shards. In terms of residential security, tempered glass is not ideal because it will break easily and with little noise. Laminated glass is harder to break than tempered because when impacted, the PVB layer remains inside the frame and the glass fragments stay adhered to this layer. This makes it difficult to break without a lot of noise and glass cutters will also not be able to cut it from the outside.
Residential Uses
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Tempered glass is sometimes used in patio doors or large windows because if it breaks, the risk of serious injury is reduced. It is more often used in shower screens, interior partition walls, along stairways and in furniture such as glass-topped tables and cabinets. Laminated glass is used more often than tempered for residential windows and doors because it provides better security against break-ins. It is also common in cabinet doors, partitions and skylights.
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