Reinforced glass - what is it for? What are its advantages if the production of this rather expensive variety of glass is in demand and is gaining momentum every day? Let's start with the manufacturing method.
Reinforced glass is produced in the following way: in the manufacturing process, a grid with square or hexagonal cells is placed on a glass sheet. Reinforced glass can be both transparent and colored. In the latter case, oxides of certain metals are added to the glass melt to impart color. It can be polished or having a textured pattern matching the reinforcing element located inside the glass.
The installation of glass of this type is justified in two cases: when it is used in rooms where it is likely to be injured when using ordinary glass, and the second case when reinforced glass is an element of the decor of the room.
Many people remember that back in the seventies and eighties, reinforced glass was widely used in various institutions: in kindergartens (so as not to injure children if the glass breaks, schools, in buildings where there are a large number of people, in some production rooms.
The wire used for glass reinforcement is different: both ordinary steel and stainless. There is also an aluminum-coated wire. Reinforced glass is not stronger than usual. Rather, the opposite. When exposed to mechanical stress, it is twice as fragile as usual. But the wire prevents glass fragments from flying apart if a stone or any other object gets into it.
The reinforcing mesh is located over the entire surface of the glass, and the distance to the surface should be at least one and a half millimeters. In connection with this circumstance, reinforced glass has a thickness of at least five millimeters, and in practice often - and even more.
The reinforcing wire gives the glass the ability to evenly distribute the temperature over the entire surface, so fire ladders are often equipped with such glasses .
It happens that due to the scale used in wire reinforcement, bubbles and sinks form in the glass.
In these cases, it will be too fragile, therefore subject to rejection. The marriage also includes insufficient immersion of the reinforcing wire in glass (less than one and a half millimeters).
Reinforced glass of both domestic and foreign production enters the Russian market . Russian plants located in the Vladimir (Gus-Khrustalny) and Tver regions supply high-quality products. From foreign products it is worth noting the products of Belarusian and Polish production. Reinforced glass is also used for the manufacture of sealed glass units used in plastic windows. True, such double-glazed windows are much heavier and more expensive than ordinary ones.
According to Soviet standards, according to which Russian and Belarusian manufacturers work, glass reinforced can be of the following sizes: in length - from eighty to two hundred centimeters, in width - from forty to one hundred and sixty.