Although many people have learned about safety glass, few people know its primary material is laminated glass. This industrial glass has been around for more than 100 years. It is also commonly referred to as construction glass. It was first used in the gas mask eye-pieces used during World War I. Today, nearly all car windshields use this glass. While it has a considerable number of applications, cutting laminated glass can be a complicated process.
Let’s discuss more Laminated Glass, its features, and its applications.
What is Laminated Glass?
This industrial glass consists of two pieces of PVB film sandwiched in between with one or more layers. It is one of the most vitally essential safety glasses. If required, the laminated glass could be made from multi-layers of glass and film instead of two pieces of glass.
Laminated glass is made using one of two methods:
- Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) laminated glass
PVB laminated glass is produced using a process of heat and pressure, which sandwiches a flexible interlayer between glass layers. The interlayer usually has a thickness of 0.38 mm.
- Cast in Place (CIP) laminate
CIP laminated glass is produced by pouring resin into the cavity between two adjacent glass panes. For CIP laminated glasses, interlayer thicknesses of 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm are standard.
Features of Laminated Glass
Laminated glass provides longevity, high-performance, and multifunctional advantages while maintaining the esthetic quality of glass at the same time. This provides a solution for many architectural design issues and better protection against the impact of disasters. It provides:
- Safety: Ordinary glass windows are brittle and break into long, sharp pieces that cause severe and sometimes fatal injuries. The output under pressure is a significant feature of laminated glass. In other words, the inner layers of this glass can absorb impact energy and resist penetration.
- Security: Burglars often smash windows to get to the door and window handles, but it can withstand the damage since cutting through the dense PVB layers is nearly impossible even though the glass is broken.
- Sound Control: Laminated glass serves as an outstanding noise shield. This has a higher index of sound reduction than a monolithic industrial glass of equal thickness between the 125Hz and 4,000Hz frequencies. The PVB ‘s shear damping efficiency makes it a useful asset for sound control.
- UV Control: Although natural light plays an essential role in the architectural design, Ultra Violet (UV) rays can cause curtains/furniture to itch and fade in the sunlight. These glasses can block more than 99 percent of the UV rays.
- Durability: It is highly durable and maintains its color and strength. They can be used for a wide variety of architectural and interior design applications, such as floor glazing, stairs, balconies, balustrades, internal paneling, and external cladding.
- Weather and Disaster Control: It helps protect against injuries and harm to property caused by glass breakage due to natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. This offers security against man-made accidents such as bomb explosions, as well. It does so by keeping the glass within the glass frame intact.
Applications of Laminated Glass
Laminated glasses are very versatile and can be used in almost every possible industry.
- Building Industry
Most building projects require a glass exterior but need to reduce sound propagation at the same time, such as a restaurant on a busy road. For this purpose, they are used, which have strong audio damping properties.
- Transport Industry
For windscreens, laminated glasses are used for all modes of transport from the car to the trains. These are usually laminated PVB glass with a thicker interlayer of approximately 0.76 mm. This gives the material an excellent resistance to the penetration from rocks or high winds, while providing excellent light transmission at the same time.
- Security Applications
It is commonly used in high-security buildings, including banks, embassies, and jewelry stores. Bulletproof glasses, shower panels, and burglar resistant glasses are few other places where it is preferred over other types of industrial glass.
Laminated glass has a multitude of uses. Compared to traditional Industrial glass, this type of glass boasts improved protection standards and has found applications in domestic and industrial buildings. Laminated glass has now become an essential part of our world, and it continues to expand its utility.