Session 10

Manufacturing Constraints, Performance Characteristics, Benets and Limitations of Using Tempered Glass in Buildings
Dr. Leon Jacob Jacob & Associates Pty Ltd

Keywords

Abstract
There has been a signicant increase in the international awareness and use of tempered glass in buildings. This paper will endeavour to identify and review some of the key factors that need understanding for the correct selection and use of tempered glass. Manufacturing issues like bow and roller wave must be correctly specied in order to avoid serious problems of product acceptance after installation. The relationship between surface compression, fracture resistance, strength and safety will be discussed. A brief overview of potential applications requiring tempered glass will also be considered.

toughened. This makes the product more versatile to the building industry.

Manufacturing Issues
The basic process of manufacturing toughened glass can be briey summarised as follows. Glass is rst cut into the size and shape as required. It is then placed on a special conveyor that transfers the panel either horizontally or in some cases vertically into a heating chamber where it is uniformly heated to approximately 640C. Once the panel has reached this uniform temperature, it is then mechanically transferred into the quenching chamber. Here the glass is cooled (quenched) with ambient air blown through special nozzles that are arranged in a specic pattern to ensure uniform heat exchange during the cooling (quenching) process. At the start of the cooling process, the glass is sufciently soft so that its deformations are compensated for by the viscous ow and the glass remains without any stress. As the cooling proceeds through the transformation range the layers of the glass become successively rigid and a structure is built in the glass that corresponds to the temperature distribution applied. If the cooling continues at constant rate the body remains without stress until the glass surface temperature falls to the ambient temperature. At this time the inner warmer layers of the glass continue to contract. This contraction is opposed by the cold surface layers which gives rise to a system of stresses, compressive stress at the surface and compensating tensile stress within the body of the glass. Because the glass is already rigid, the stresses cannot be equalised and so it remains locked into the glass permanently. The stress distribution developed through the toughening process is directly related to the temperature distribution during the cooling process across the transformation range. The compressive stresses on the two surfaces are equal and balanced. For the glass plate to stay in equilibrium there will be a corresponding tensile (pulling) stress developed in the central region of the glass thickness.

Introduction
The need for glass with increased strength and safety fracture characteristics led to the development of toughened (fully tempered) glass. This need was rst identied for use with car windscreens. Safety against lacerations and such accidents was the driving force behind this development. The versatility of toughened glass as a glazing product is now becoming fully appreciated by industry and consequently its use is increasing dramatically. This is evidenced by the remarkable increase in production capacity. For example in Australia toughened glass production capacity has grown from about 7 toughening plants in 1999 to 30 plants by the end of 2002 with global capacity at signicant levels. The compressive stress in the surfaces of toughened glass ensures an improved response to the limitations and inadequacies of ordinary annealed glass. The perceived structural weakness caused by the presence of microscopic surface aws in annealed glass is overcome by the development of compressive stresses through the toughening process. Recent innovations in toughening capabilities have further advanced the cause for the use of toughened glass. Toughened glass can now be manufactured in larger panel sizes, atter and to varying degrees of strength. Coated glass can now be
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The net result of developing a compressive stress on the surface of a glass plate means that a load in excess of the induced compressive stress plus the intrinsic tensile strength of the glass must be exceeded before any tensile failure can occur. The compressive layer on the two surfaces of heat-treated glass extends to approximately 20% of the glass thickness on both sides. There are two types of heat-treated glass: toughened (or fully tempered) glass and heat strengthened glass. Toughened glass is 2.5 to 5 times stronger than annealed glass when subjected to uniform lateral pressure. While heat strengthened glass is 1.5 to 2.5 times stronger than annealed glass. The compressive and tensile stresses induced in the toughened glass are a form of stored energy. When cracks in toughened glass reach a critical length, this stored energy can no longer be contained resulting in fracture. The stored energy in the glass is suddenly released. This energy must somehow be utilised (because energy cannot be created or destroyed-Newtons third law). The energy is utilised in the generation of hundreds of new fracture surfaces in the glass panel. This causes the glass to disintegrate into small fragments (dice), which are considered to be harmless in comparison with fractured annealed glass. Hence, toughened glass is known as a safety glass. The higher the level of surface compression induced in the glass, the higher will be the level of tensile stress in the central region of the glass and, on failure, the larger the number of fragments produced. The magnitude of the surface compression in toughened glass is approximately twice that of the tensile stress encapsulated in the glass. This can be seen from the following equation. Equation 1 c = { E /(1 - )}Tg k{1 12(x2 /h2)} Here: c= compressive strength developed in the plate = the thermal coefcient of expansion E = Elastic modulus

Tg = transformation temperature of glass h = plate thickness k = is a parameter characterising the cooling rate It can be determined that the absolute value of the compressive stress is twice the tensile stress in the centre of the plate. The magnitude of the tempering stresses is inuenced by various parameters. From the equation above it can be determined that: The cooling rate will directly inuence the compressive stresses The coefcient of expansion of the glass will also inuence the compressive stress developed Increasing the glass thickness by a factor of two will increase the compressive stress four fold for the same cooling rate Conversely higher cooling intensities will be required for thinner glasses. The strength of toughened glass is approximately equal to: Equation 2 c = ind + ten Here: ind = induced compressive stress ten = of initial tensile strength of glass. Most toughened glass manufacturers have their own variants to the critical temperatures and cooling rates that they use in their toughening processes. ASTM C 1048 Standard Specication for heated - treated at glass kind HS, kind FT species a surface compression of 10000 psi (69 MPa) as the minimum requirement surface compression limit for fully toughened glass. There is no upper limit specied or required.

Fig 1 Relationship between particle size and Surface Compression.

Table 1 Comparison of national impact standards for Safety Glass.

Testing of Toughened Glass

The primary objective of testing toughened glass is to determine the fracture pattern at failure. For applications where it is to be used to offer protection under accidental human impact the toughened glass must be able to break safely. The following graph (Fig 1) illustrates the correlation between particle size and surface compression. So it can be deduced that surface compression can be a measure of the fracture pattern. Yet to be determined is the cause of development of long particles in toughened glass. Recent testing has shown that toughened glass with thicknesses up to and including 6mm are particularly susceptible to the development of long particles. [1,2] These long particles have been known to cause serious injury and even death [3]. Table 1 identies the various test requirements for safety glass under human impact conditions. It can be seen that the requirements vary between countries. In any event all require a minimum level of protection. The current test protocol using the

CEN twin tyre impactor has raised some concern as to its stated claim of equivalence to the existing lead shot bag impactor. Series of comparative impact tests between the twin tyre and the lead shot bag have identied various anomalies that need to be addressed before a truly international impact stand can be quantied. Various reports have been presented to the ISO sub committee responsible for the development of this standard. Some of the key differences can be listed as follows: The twin tyre impactor does not differentiate between toughened glasses of different thickness. Even though the mass of the twin tyre is greater than the lead shot bag it often does not break 6 mm thick toughened glass with surface compression greater than 100 MPa at the maximum drop height of 1200 mm. This is of serious concern and surprisingly was recognised as an important issue in the development of the twin tyre impactor. (GPD 95,97). The table 2 illustrates this phenomenon. Out of the 29 separate samples of 6 mm toughened glass tested 22 did not break at the maximum drop height of 1200 mm using the twin tyre impactor. All samples with a surface compression less than approx. 90 MPa fractured. If a sample of glass does not fracture during the test it does not mean that the material being tested is a safety product. It is the authors opinion and

that of various National Standards that the test must cause fracture for an adequate assessment of its failure characteristics. Some national standards, (Australia, Japan, China, Singapore and India) permit the use of a punch test as an alternative to the pendulum impact test so as to access the fracture characteristics of toughened glass. However, the test method in all of these standards only requires that the test specimen punched at the edges of test sample. In contrast the European test standard ECE R 43, approval of Safety Glazing and Glazing Material requires that uniformly toughened glass panels be fractured using a centre punch at various locations including the centre of the panel. Recent testing of toughened glass panels for architectural applications has revealed that with some toughened glass, particularly 3, 4 and 5 mm toughened glass the fracture initiation at the centre of the panel will develop long particles. These long particles are not developed when fracture is initiated along the panel edge. Pendulum impact testing of this type glass also demonstrated the development of long particles. It is essential for us to be able to recognise that this fracture type can occur. Recent studies [4] have shown that higher levels of surface compression in thin glass tend to reduce the magnitude and number of these long dangerous particles. Other issues observed included
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Table 2 Test Data on toughened glass

Rebound of impactor Comparative tests using the standard lead shot and the twin tyre impactor showed a signicant difference in the rebound characteristics [4]. The twin tyre impactor was found to rebound to a larger extent than the lead shot impactor. This indicates that the twin tyre impactor transfers less energy than the standard lead shot bag impactor. Fractured particles being explosively ejected from the test frame Another signicant observation was the distance the fractured particles were displaced with the twin tyre impactor. Scratching of toughened glass Slight scratching on the tensile surface at or near the point of impact caused a signicant reduction in the test panels capacity to resist impacts. Fracture occurred at even 200 mm drop height on panels that did not fracture at 1200 mm drop heights. Karlsson in his GPD papers of 1999 and 2001 also stated that the test program for the evaluation of safety glazing ought to consider why the twin tyre impactor doe not necessarily fracture toughened glass. Deter Balkow [5] correctly recommends that for safety applications where human impact is likely toughened glass of 6 mm thickness and greater should only be considered.

clamped. This feature results in the specialised design technique of corner point xing of the toughened glass. This characteristic is used in the latest trend of spider xings and cable systems. From a design perspective it must be observed that the stress developed from normal design loads, wind, is directly a function of the xing details. The area of clamping, the xity of the support

patch determines the design stresses. For example the use of rotating patches minimises the stress developed at the vicinity of the patch but increases the maximum stresses at the centre of the loaded panel. Conventional toughened glass structural systems using glass ns behind the vertical edges of the toughened glass actually provide edge restraint along the vertical edges of glass. This in turn reduces the maximum stresses developed at the patch ttings. When the toughened glass is only supported at the corners using xed patch ttings the stresses developed at the vicinity of the patch are signicantly high and in some situations exceed the maximum allowable design stresses for the toughened glass. See Fig 2. Theoretically this is a problem. Most toughening plants induce signicantly high compressive stresses in the glass and so make the system safe. An important factor that must be considered in all design of toughened glass for use with lateral loading is the deformation. We have to consider a limit as to permissible glass centre deection as a design tool and not just as a serviceability factor. Because of the non linear behaviour of the glass subject to lateral loading the serviceability limit for centre deection could be acceptable while the that actual centre deection in the laterally loaded toughened glass could be unacceptable and a cause of concern. The technology and the tools are now available for an adequate design check of centre deection of laterally loaded toughened glass panels. We ought to consider a deection limitation at design stress of say span/90 and not solely rely on a serviceability deection limit.

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Physical properties of toughened glass

The physical properties of glass are not changed with toughening. However some new limitations must be remembered. Roller wave is an important factor that all tougheners must be cognisant of. Specications for architectural toughened glass often require toughened glass to be free of all distortion. This is an unrealistic requirement. All glass will have some level of distortion. The key issue here is to have a reasonable limit as to the level of distortion especially roller wave permitted. Nickel sulphide inclusions are yet another issue for toughened glass. Recent studies have quantied the intensity of NiS inclusions in toughened glass [6]. The draft ISO standard of heat soaking is a positive attempt at reducing or minimising the intensity of NiS induced spontaneous fracture in toughened glass. At present there is no known method of eliminating NiS inclusions from toughened glass. We have to be aware of this fact. Litigation in this

Fig 2 Illustrates the stress in the panel with patch ttings. (Maxm Principal Stress = 77.8 MPa Max centre def = 22.4 mm Panel Size = 2400 X 1200 X 12 mm . toughened Design wind Pressure = 2.5 kPa plate analysed)

Design Characteristics of toughened glass.

Toughened is unique in that it can be
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area is rampant with numerous landmark cases getting international press and the associated concerns of this type of failure.

Toughening Technology
The development of new toughening furnaces capable of processing low e, reective glasses and ceramic coated glasses is making toughened glass more suitable for all types of building applications. However, Vitkala [7] cautions us as to some of the real limitations form toughening large toughened glass panels

Heat Soaking
The prEN 14179 has I understand just undergone a slight modication. This is in relation to the position of the thermocouple on the glass. The level of calibration required for this process is of concern. It will be extremely expensive and arduous for the small toughened glass manufacturer to be able to satisfy the calibration requirements and to also maintain the calibration criteria. Based on the results of recent tests, carried out on a batch of 6 mm

toughened glass with uniform surface compression, it would appear that the process of heat soaking can change the fragmentation characteristics of toughened glass. In these tests the particle size of the heat soaked toughened glass was found to be dramatically larger than that obtained from the non-heat soaked panels. This is probably due to the change of stress distribution that occurs during the heat soaking process. It is possible that the tensile stresses are being redistributed resulting in a larger particle size on fragmentation. Further research work will be necessary to validate this observation.

Clumping observed after toughened glass has fractured is another area requiring further investigation. Clumping can cause serious injury and effort must be made to minimise this in characteristic in toughened glass.

References
[1] Jacob, Leon., 21 may 2000. Impact Testing of Toughened & Laminated Glass. Report 313/00 [2] Jacob, Leon., Yang Jianun, Davies, P.S., 19 February 2001, Impact testing of Toughened & laminated Glass. Report 333/01 [3] Nicky Bufford, news paper Report [4] Jacob, Yang, & Davies,. A critical Review of Impact Testing and Classication of safety glass for use in Buildings, GPD 18 21 June 2001 [5] Balkow, D,. Glass Construction Manual. Part 2 Glass as a Building Material. Birkhauser. 1999. [6] Private communication with Dr. Andreas Kasper [7] Vitkala, Jorma,. Tempering Quality and the case of large glass sizes, GPD 18 21 June 2001

Conclusions
Toughened glass is a unique glazing material. It offers signicant benets to the designer and user. It offers added strength and exibility of design. When toughened properly it offers safety characteristics to the user in that if and when fracture occurs the risk of serious injury is signicantly minimised. Further work is required for a more clear understanding of its properties

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and capacity. The use of surface compression as a measure of the fracture characteristics in toughened glass needs further work. I believe that it could be a useful tool to quantify the strength and fracture characteristics of toughened glass.