Laminated safety glass is an excellent choice for building construction. In large-scale construction projects, it’s important to choose glass that will be durable and safe for all future occupants in the building.
While the folks at Bent Glass Design typically focus on more decorative elements, we know that laminated safety glass is an excellent choice for building construction.
In large buildings, safety glass can actually create a better, more comfortable interior environment.
Safety glass blocks more noise and UV radiation from outside, so employees in a commercial building will be safe from the sun’s rays, and they won’t have to compete with loud traffic noise all day.
While this is a great perk of using laminated safety glass, the main reason for choosing safety glass is, you guessed it—safety and security.
For applications that require especially strong and damage-resistant glass, laminated safety glass is the way to go.
First and foremost, if laminated glass is broken, the laminate layers will prevent panes from shattering like regular glass, keeping anyone in the vicinity safe from flying glass fragments.
The fragments will stay bonded to the interior layers of the glass, rather than flying all over the place. Think about the way a car windshield breaks, for reference.
The laminate layers that keep safety glass from shattering also gives it an added element of security.
Someone who is trying to break into the building won’t be able to enter easily by shattering safety glass in a door or window—if a thief tries to break the glass, it will remain in one solid piece. Laminated glass can even be designed to be bullet resistant.
Laminated glass is normally used when there is a possibility of human impact or where the glass could fall if shattered and also for architectural applications. Skylight glazing and automobile windshields typically use laminated glass. In geographical areas requiring hurricane-resistant construction, laminated glass is often used in exterior storefronts, curtain walls and windows.
Cutting
Plastic interlayers in laminated glass make its cutting difficult. There is an unsafe practice of cutting both sides separately, pouring a flammable liquid such as denatured alcohol into the crack, and igniting it to melt the interlayer to separate the pieces.
- Special purpose laminated cutting tables
- Vertically-inclined saw frames
- A blowlamp or hot air blower.
- High pressure abrasive waterjet.
Repair
According to the National Windshield Repair Association, laminated glass repair is possible for minor impact damage using a process that involves drilling into the fractured glass to reach the lamination layer. Special clear adhesive resin is injected under pressure and then cured with ultraviolet light. When done properly, the strength and clarity is sufficiently restored for most safety related purposes. The process is widely used to repair large industrial automotive windshields where the damage does not interfere with the view of the driver.
Benefits of Laminated Safety Glass
- Laminated glass remains intact when broken, protecting people from injury. Laminated glass is very safe in overhead glazing
- The PVB interlayer material has viscoelastic property which in turn helps in the reduction of sound acoustic insulation
- Laminated glass reduces transmission of UV rays and hence protects the furniture from fading
- It is durable and maintains color and strength for a much longer time
- The installation of laminated glass is similar to any other type of glass.
Applications of Laminated Safety Glass
- Laminated glass is widely used in building and housing products
- It is used in automotive and transport industries
- Laminated glass is mostly used in building facades and car windscreens
- It plays a major role in overhead glazing like skylights, glass ceilings and roofs
- Laminated glass can also be used in greenhouse.
Features of Laminated Glass:
Laminated glass provides durability, high-performance and multi-functional benefits and at the same time preserves the aesthetic appearance of glass. Laminated glass provides a solution to many architectural design problems and offers increased protection from the effects of disasters such as hurricane, earthquake and bomb blasts, if suitably designed.
