How does laminated glass work

By: Brad Campbell June 25, Blog. Security concerns resulting from active shootings, civil unrest, and burglary, among other things, have caused most commercial building owners and homeowners to increasingly move away from standard glass windows.

There is an ever-growing need for stronger glass to keep attackers and would-be intruders at bay to protect your property and the lives of those inside it. Security glass products like laminated safety glass are highly effective at delaying and preventing forced entry and protecting against armed attacks targeting all types of residential and commercial properties.

Facts About Laminated Glass. Why Use Laminated Glass. Benefits of Laminated Glass. Unlike the standard glass for windows and doors, this one is made of two glass layers and an interlayer. The two layers of glass are hardened, mainly through heat strengthening.

They are then bonded by the interlayer, usually a vinyl material, to keep the two layers intact. The construction of safety laminated glass is what makes it different from the standard window and door glass.

When impacted, this safety glass does not shatter and fall off the window or door frame; the vinyl interlayer holds the glass fragments.

As such, it does not pose an injury threat to building occupants, which often result from flying glass pieces in the case of a standard window and door glass. Therefore, laminated glass effectively blocks the entry of attackers and intruders to homes, stores, or classrooms, since it remains in place even after an attempt to shatter it. This feature gives building occupants time to react as well as security officers time to arrive.

While some people may mistake laminated glass for bulletproof glass, it is important to note that it falls into the category of non-ballistic glazing products. Laminated glass does not, therefore, keep bullets away but still holds together upon bullet penetration. This is important as it delays the attacker and buys occupants precious time to find cover and authorities to arrive at the place.

Unlike standard glass, it provides a safety barrier against flying glass pieces that may injure room occupants. Laminated glass does a great job of keeping you away from intruders and attackers while maintaining crystal clear views of the surroundings.

In laminated glass design, the interlayer has minimal effect on the view, and building occupants can still enjoy clear views of their surroundings. The common type of material used as the interlayer makes laminated safety glass panels virtually invisible. This makes it useful for schools, homes, and particularly retail stores, as it makes it possible for potential customers to window-shop while maintaining the safety of the valuables inside.

Laminated glass is categorized as a containment-grade glazing material, which means it is reinforced with a more robust interlayer. The strength of this safety glass comes down to the number of glass layers used. These layers go through a hardening process where heat is used to make the glass sturdier. The thickness of the glass is used to determine its protection level. The thickness can vary from 0. The use of stronger interlayer materials, other than the standard polyvinyl butyral PVB , makes laminated glass stronger and stiffer compared to standard glass and other types of safety glass.

Glass companies have long used laminated glass for windows and doors in new buildings. These may be homes where owners wish to take security measures like preventing forced entry. Dustin: Absolutely. Also in a commercial setting; very similiar process. So this pieces of glass is actually a safety glass. Both sides are actually tempered. So it takes a really good shot. So it actually spiderwebs from the location. Now, this will continue to crack.

It will continue to break. Dustin: You can hear it, right. And then eventually it will fall out. So tempered glass breaks into these small pieces. Will these cut you? For sure. This can definitely still cut you. So when tempered glass breaks, it breaks into small pieces. We noticed earlier when you hit it, that you kind of bounced off a time or two, right?

So what I want to let you do, is I want you to hit the edge of it. Dustin: For sure. Spontaneous glass breakage. Something like this can actually cause this piece of glass to break in six months, or in a year.

And if that got chipped at some point during the process of making it, and it still got installed, that can explain some crazy day where this piece of glass blows up. Those are a lot of times made of tempered glass. But that right there can cause an issue for sure down the road. Dustin: Alright, there you go. So with the right amount of force and hitting it at the right angle definitely causes the issue of having it come apart.

Similiar story with the sunroof exploding. Dustin: This is laminated. So laminated is a type of safety glass. Tempered, laminated, and then an acrylic or plexiglass, which is kind of a plastic base. So what we have here is two pieces of glass that are laminated together with a film- an adhesive film. And essentially this is annealed, or plate glass, on both sides. Dustin: So interesting fact: Almost everybody looks through this nearly every day because this is what your windshield is made out of.

But also we use this in a lot of areas for storefront. If you see a gas station that has been broken into, sometimes this is what we put in to deter thieves from getting in. We also use it in bullet-resistant glass. They laminate multiple pieces together. You can see where it broke from.

Just like most glass, you can always see where it spiderwebs from and where it goes. That actually looks a lot like what your windshield looks like when a big rock hits it, right?

Maybe not quite that extreme. Dustin: Correct. It also is really not likely to cut you. All of these runs that you see…. So what you can see is the interlayer. You can see the plastic interior of the laminate piece. It actually holds together really really well. It could. An IGU consists of two panes of glass with an air space in between.

Each piece of glass will have its own thickness and can be a certain type of glass such as laminated, acoustic-grade or standard glass. The air space also impacts the noise reduction somewhat — more space, less noise. There is no one answer to how much noise reduction occurs when you choose laminated, as there are other factors that will determine the overall effects.

However, to give you an idea of the impact of laminated glass for dampening unwanted sounds and vibrations, one 6. A complete IGU with 2 panes of standard glass, each with a 4 mm thickness plus 12 mm of air space for a total thickness of 20 mm , will achieve about 27 dB of reduction. Acoustic glass is a little different than laminated glass. Instead of the PVB interlayer, acoustic glass contains a special resin as an interlayer in between two sheets of glass.

And, you can get varying grades of acoustic glass by increasing the thickness of the resin interlayer and glass. In fact, you may not be able to detect an audible difference at all.

Because the difference is minimal, many property owners gravitate towards using laminated glass in their double glazing units rather than spending more on acoustic grade. Acoustic grade glass tends to be more expensive than standard laminated glass. Also, laminated is more well known for its superior safety and security features because it is so hard to shatter, let alone break, providing another highly valued window feature.

Varying the thicknesses will help to increase the sound dampening impact of your double glazed windows. In most cases, using one pane of laminated glass and one of standard glass of a different thickness is enough to block out most noise pollution issues. Some property owners believe they can save money by using laminated glass with secondary glazing.

After all, one pane of laminated glass will have a big impact on your noise troubles. Attaching it to the inside of your current window seems like a simple, affordable solution.