Tempered glass is safety glass because it breaks into small cubes. The edges of these cubes are still sharp. They are not “rounded”. From a glass expert point of view, the safety aspect comes strictly from the small size, which is a function of the temper stress. If these pieces are interlocked, they can behave […]
Glass Failure Due to Edge Grind Damage
Read Consulting glass failure experts analyzed several cracked laminated windows. They were made from two pieces of 1/4 inch thick glass laminated with 0.02″ thick PVB. Oneof the glass panes is tinted such that it absorbs 65% of the incoming “heat” from light. It is the tinted piece of the laminate that broke. The failure […]
Glass Failure Analysis of Wine Bottle
A recent failure analysis performed on a wine bottle revealed a manufacturing defect. The initiating manufacturing defect is a piece of unmelted glass (see photo above). More information on this can be found in my failure analysis blog There is a recent white paper that discusses the failure analysisi in detail.
Evaluation of Hurricane Windows
Window Expert has been involved in a large case involving the failure of hurricane windows. These windows are made from two layers of glass with a thick layer (0.05″) of a flexible polymer.The lesson from this effort has been that the polymers selected for producing windows that meet Miami Dade County requirements must have the […]
Tempered Safety Glass
California Glass Failure Analysis Expert discusses safety aspects of tempered glass:The following codes interpret tempered glass for use as safety glass for the consumer:Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) #16 Part 1201 1997, ANSI Z97.1-2004 and CAN/CGSB-12.1-M90 all discuss the safety aspects of tempered glass. All basically state that tempered glass is safer because it breaks […]