What is Toughened Glass?
Toughened or tempered glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the inner surfaces into tension.
The glass begins a heat treatment process in which it travels through a tempering oven, either in a batch or continuous feed. The oven heats the glass to a temperature of more than 600 degrees Celsius. (The industry standard is 620 degrees Celsius.) The glass then undergoes a high-pressure cooling procedure called “quenching.” During this process, which lasts just seconds, high-pressure air blasts the surface of the glass from an array of nozzles in varying positions. Quenching cools the outer surfaces of the glass much more quickly than the center. As the center of the glass cools, it tries to pull back from the outer surfaces. As a result, the center remains in tension, and the outer surfaces go into compression, which gives tempered glass its strength.
Advantages of Toughened Glass
Toughened glass is four to six times stronger than annealed (standard) glass and can withstand surface compression of at least 10,000lbs per square inch (10,000psi). It is also more resistant to thermal breakage. Tempered glass withstand extremely low and extremely high temperatures comparing to annealed glass. The increased heat resistance of toughened glass makes it ideal for use in oven doors. It can even withstand a direct flame, so is also suitable for laboratory equipment or cookware. The change in its structure means that if tempered glass does break, it will crumble uniformly into small fragments or pebbles, rather than splintering as annealed glass does, into what can be dangerous shards.
Ideal for use in countless applications, from windows to barriers, interior design, splashbacks, curtain walling etc
Toughened Glass is reccommened by us for the Splashbacks (Kitchen, Bathroom, Home and Office) – as it withstands hits, high/low temperature and household applications.
