Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian

--
My boat project: http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass


"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:51:41 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:



OTOH, laminated safety glass, while abandoned years ago for automobiles,
would simply crack when hit.

What kind of glass do they use in windshields on the new cars?

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:12:31 GMT, "Brian D"
sent into the ether:

Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian
Brian,
When did they change tempered glass? Tempered glass breaks into rock
salt sized piece and laminated glass, as used in windshields, breaks
as you decribe. Easy to mix up the two :} BTW, both are referred to
as safety glass.

Remove the x for e-mail reply
www.outdoorfrontiers.com

Probably got my terminology wrong. I think that all safety glass is
tempered, but the names are different ...if you describe what you want,
you'll get it. Diamond-Seaglaze knows ...

Brian


"Dan, danl, danny boy, Redbeard, actually Greybeard now"
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:12:31 GMT, "Brian D"
sent into the ether:

Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion
little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of
glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it
breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian
Brian,
When did they change tempered glass? Tempered glass breaks into rock
salt sized piece and laminated glass, as used in windshields, breaks
as you decribe. Easy to mix up the two :} BTW, both are referred to
as safety glass.

Remove the x for e-mail reply
www.outdoorfrontiers.com

Brian's giving you the correct basic information, but has the terminology
just a bit wrong .

It's "tempered" glass that "dices" into a zillion pieces when broken,. It is
used for the side windows of automobiles, for shower doors, patio doors,
etc. Notably, tempered glass is much stronger against wind load and impact
than plain annealed glass.

"Laminated" glass, used in windshields, skylights, security doors, etc.,
contains two or more layers of glass bonded to a plastic interlayer. The
glass is usueally annealed, but can also be tempered or heat-treated.

See http://www.alumaxbath.com/tech/tgp.htm for tempered glass, and
http://www.saflex.com/pages/about/ for laminated glass.

Alex

"Brian D" wrote in message
news:zthxb.120989$Dw6.554305@attbi_s02...
Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion
little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of
glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian

--
My boat project: http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass


"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:51:41 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:



OTOH, laminated safety glass, while abandoned years ago for
automobiles,
would simply crack when hit.

What kind of glass do they use in windshields on the new cars?

That's not right. Mylar is not the middle layer of safety glass. Tempered is
used in side and back glass, NOT windshields. Safety glass is used in
windsheilds so it helps absorb impact. I used to work in the glass industry.

"Brian D" wrote in message
news:zthxb.120989$Dw6.554305@attbi_s02...
Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion
little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of
glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian

--
My boat project: http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass


"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:51:41 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:



OTOH, laminated safety glass, while abandoned years ago for
automobiles,
would simply crack when hit.

What kind of glass do they use in windshields on the new cars?