What is Tempered Glass?

Admittedly, there are some things we use and rely on every day that we frankly don’t know exactly what they are or how they work. For instance, when driving a car, a variety of mechanisms and parts have been engineered with exact precision to work together meticulously, allowing an ordinary driver to operate the vehicle safely and effectively. Many, many American adults own, drive, or occupy cars on a daily basis. However, I am absolutely certain that my vehicle has a transfer case, and a rear differential, and even for a hundred dollars, I could not at this moment tell you what those do, or why they’re important.

Another object or item (also used in cars) that many don’t actually know what it is or how it works is Tempered Glass. Even though it is used in everything from residential windows, shower and sliding doors, windshields, coffee pots, microwave doors and even computer screens, many don’t know the difference between Tempered glass, and just…glass.

We here at Clear Cut work with Tempered glass day in and day out. Tempered glass is normal glass that has been heated in a large oven-like device to bring it nearly to its melting point. Once the entire sheet is nearly liquid hot, the glass is rapidly cooled. By heating to such extremes, then rapidly cooling the sheet, the result is more than a 200% increase in strength than the same original sheet.

Additionally, such glass carries a much higher resistance to heat and cold in the future. Furthermore, once glass has been tempered, the pattern with which it breaks is very different. Rather than breaking into large, sharp shards that could easily gouge human flesh and other objects, tempered glass breaks into small, rounded shards. Consequently, most glass that human beings get in close proximity to is tempered, for the protection of the individual, both from extreme temperatures, and possibility of injury.