Toughened Glass

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 interior into tension. Such stresses cause the glass, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards as plate glass (a.k.a. annealed glass) does.

The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury. As a result of its safety and strength, toughened glass is used in a variety of demanding applications, including \windows, shower doors, architectural glass doors and tables, splashbacks and more . Where human impact is a possibility or local bodies require it glass can be toughened to comply with all local building regulations. All processing must be done before the glass is toughened, any attempt to cut, drill or edge work the toughened glass will result in damage.

All slumped glass conforms to New Zealand and Australian safety standard ANSIZ97 UA when toughened and should be installed in accordance with ANSIZ97 AU safety standards. Setting blocks and spaces must be used at all times. When toughened, slumped glass increases in tensile strength 4-5 fold and takes on the same safe breakage characteristics of toughened flat glass breaking into small relatively harmless fragments. Toughened glass has the same sound installation properties as annealed glass. Normal weathering or exposure will not affect toughened slumped glass, however, the toughening process does not increase the resistance to scratching or abrasion.