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Technical Bulletin 1011: Breakage of Toughened Glass

Australian Glass Group

Version:  2021.  (Current)
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Publication date
16 October 2022
Pages
4
Current status
Current
Description

Toughened glass has a high mechanical strength and high resistance to thermally generated stresses due to the surface compression induced into it during the tempering process. However, toughened glass is not unbreakable and the causes of toughened glass are many and varied.

Examples are:

• Edge damage
• Edge defects
• Surface damage
• Edge or surface impact
• Excessively high temperature differences
• Structure movement or seismic drift overloading the glass at the edges
• Excessive stress loading around holes, notches, cut outs etc.
• Rare inclusions in the raw glass such as nickel sulphide (these relate to spontaneous breakage)
• Improper glazing (including glass on metal contact)

AGG is a glass processor, not a glass manufacturer. While AGG purchase glass from only reputable manufacturers known to consistently produce glass of suitable quality which includes (but is not limited to) significantly reduced contaminants, AGG deals with a raw material that it has no control over. Therefore, AGG cannot be responsible for impurities or contaminants that may still inadvertently exist in microscopic quantities. It is not possible for either a glass manufacturer or processor to detect such inclusions in the glass either through visual assessment or existing technologies in glass processing machinery.

In addition, AGG are not responsible for excessive stresses imparted to glass in a design or installation, or for breakage reasons beyond AGG’s control. Toughened safety glass breakage poses a minor risk of injury when compared to the potential for injury from breakage in annealed glass.

Scope

Contents:

Fracture Origin
Heat Soaked Toughened Glass
Overview Of Inclusions And ‘spontaneous breakage’ In Toughened Glass
Disclaimer

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Technical Bulletin 1011: Breakage of Toughened Glass 2021 cover