Most people are familiar with what glass is and have seen many different types of glass throughout their lifetimes. But unless you work with glass on a regular basis, you probably aren’t familiar with all of the terms that are used when it comes to glass.
Here are a few glass terms that you should know before you start picking out glass for a project:
Annealed glass
When this type of glass is manufactured, it’s cooled at a natural speed. As a result, it will break into big pieces if it is broken rather than shattering into a bunch of tiny ones. These pieces of glass will often have sharper edges than smaller pieces would.
Bent glass
This glass is typically flat when it’s manufactured. But this type of glass, which is also sometimes called curved glass, is bent during production so that it can be used in certain architectural designs and to create things like windshields. Manufacturers create bent glass by placing it on a piece of metal when it’s still warm and then putting it into an oven where it softens and bends accordingly.
Bullet-resistant glass
Also referred to as bulletproof glass in some circles, this type of glass features layers of laminated glass and thermoplastic that are designed to prevent a bullet or other object from breaking through it. As a bullet or other object passes through bullet-resistant glass, the glass will absorb its energy and slow it down so that the bullet or object doesn’t pass through it completely.
Laminated glass
Designed to prevent glass from shattering and going everywhere, this type of glass is made by placing a film of plastic in between a couple pieces of regular glass. The film is often made out of polyvinyl butyral that will hold glass together if it’s ever broken. It can be constructed out of additional layers of glass and plastic when necessary.
Want to learn more about glass and how you can incorporate it into a variety of applications? ProCurve Glass Design, Inc. can create glass for those in the marine, automotive, heavy equipment, and rail industries. Call us at 215-441-9101 to find out how our glass can benefit you.