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You are here: Home / Failure Analysis / Manufacturing Defect on Tempered Glass Window

Manufacturing Defect on Tempered Glass Window

February 26, 2010 By Tom Read Leave a Comment

Glass failure analysis expert witness performed a root cause failure analysis on window defects found on a recently built custom home. The upper left photograph shows the defect from the building exterior. The window defect resembles a dust or dirt streak and was not detected until the post construction window cleaning. In all cases, the manufacturing defect is in the center of the window, is parallel to the long side and it looks like a streak or scuff. The upper right photograph is a 200X photomicrograph of a portion of the window defect. It is composed of an array of small glass particles strongly adhered to the glass surface. It is believed that these particles were generated during the window sizing process and were a contaminant on the horizontal rollers used in the glass temper process. During glass tempering they came into contact with the hot glass surface and welded to it. This is a manufacturing defect. It is not a construction defect. This defect is often blamed for window scratching from window cleaning operations. However, these particles were visibly obvious and could not be dislodged. Therefore, these particles don’t fit the popular window damage model proposed by many window cleaning experts.

Filed Under: Failure Analysis Tagged With: Manufacturing Defect, Tempered Glass, Window, Window Cleaning

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Read Consulting Failure Analysis

Thomas L. Read, PhD,
1435 Fulton Road Santa Rosa, CA
Phone: 707-494-5089
email: info@readconsulting.com

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Read Consulting Failure Analysis

Thomas L. Read, PhD,
1435 Fulton Road Santa Rosa, CA
Phone: 707-494-5089
email: info@readconsulting.com

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