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Spontaneous glass breakage confounds

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Spontaneous glass breakage confounds

Spontaneous glass breakage confounds

If you ask industry experts, one of the most confounding things about glass is the phenomenon of spontaneous breakage. As the name suggests, glass shatters without any apparent cause. Doors, windows and other large sheets of glass seemingly burst. So what causes spontaneous glass breakage? Can it be predicted? More importantly, can it be prevented?

Many different causes of spontaneous glass breakage have been identified, and many of them are not as mysterious as they initially appear. Seemingly minor damage along the edge of a glass panel may cause glass to break without warning. Glass can also be damaged at the time of installation. The damage may not be readily apparent, but this kind of damage can come back to haunt an unaware property owner!

Sometimes the seeds of destruction are sown much earlier – at the moment the glass is created. Inclusions in the raw materials can cause the glass to develop weak spots. Under the right atmospheric conditions, or during normal operation, the inclusions can cause the glass to shatter.

One such inclusion is nickel sulfide. If nickel sulfide, which can be found in the raw materials used to produce glass, is present in the glass mixture, it can pool in the center of the pane when the glass forms and cools. These nickel sulfide “stones” are often imperceptible, and can wreak havoc long after the glass has cooled. Once the glass is installed, temperature fluctuations can change the size of the nickel sulfide deposit, and can flex the glass, which leads to sudden, spontaneous glass breakage. It’s important to note that nickel sulfide causes spontaneous breakage only in tempered glass. Untempered (annealed or heat strengthened) glass does not experience this phenomenon, although it also can break spontaneously for other reasons.

Most glass manufacturers try to eliminate nickel sulfide from their raw materials. In doing so, they reduce the likelihood that tempered versions of their glass will be manufactured with this fatal flaw. In addition, manufacturers sometimes stress the glass panels with heat in an attempt to identify (and destroy) suspect panels before they can be shipped to the end user.

Most often, the cause of spontaneous glass breakage can be traced to production-level flaws, glazing or installation damage, or significant temperature variations that affect the glass once it has been installed in its permanent location.

Because there are so many different causes of spontaneous glass failure, it’s unlikely that they can all be eliminated. Inclusions are often microscopic, and aren’t visible with the naked eye. Testing the finished panels can often help identify flaws, to ensure they aren’t installed. Other approaches, including heat strengthening and laminating, can help control the result of breakage and limit the possibility of injuries.

Fortunately spontaneous glass breakage is rare. Thanks to safety treatments for glass, the risk of injury is also reduced when spontaneous breakage occurs.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store.

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Spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass

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Spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass

Spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass

The reports sound scary: “It just exploded!” “It sounded like a gun going off!” People report a small number of cases each year of tempered glass breaking in their homes. Tempered glass can be found in a number of places. Most commonly, it’s found in oven doors, shower doors and glass tabletops. What cases spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass and what can you do about it?

Spontaneous glass breakage is uncommon

Spontaneous glass breakage is an uncommon phenomenon, but it does happen. When ordinary glass breaks, it reduces into random shards. These shards are for the most part jagged and sharp. Because the potential for injury is very high, tempered glass is used in certain applications to reduce the risk of injury. Tempered glass is a safety glass. When it breaks, it reduces into tiny cubed pieces, and often stays in one piece or several large broken pieces.

But what causes tempered glass to break spontaneously? The seeds of spontaneous destruction of a sheet of tempered glass are actually sown when the glass is manufactured – even before it has cooled. The tempering process heats glass up to a temperature of about 1,200 degrees, then cools the glass quickly. (Ordinary glass is cooled gradually.) The quick cooling changes the surface tension of the inner and outer surfaces of the glass, and strengthens it. Tempered glass can resist impacts and other insults that would cause ordinary glass to break.

When the glass is heated to its liquid or near-liquid state, nickel alloys in the glass are able to move more freely inside the glass. If they pool together (particularly toward the center) the tempered glass becomes vulnerable to spontaneous glass breakage.

Breakage can occur at any time – or not at all. The glass can break as the result of a fairly innocuous impact or other environmental factor, or it can occur for no apparent reason. Spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass can be “explosive.” That is, it can create a tremendous, loud noise as it shatters. It can also happen very quietly.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission receives about 100 reports annually regarding spontaneous glass breakage in tempered glass. Most reports involve tempered glass shower doors, but a few involve other products like tabletops, oven glass and automotive side and rear window glass. (Windshields are made from laminated glass – a different kind of safety glass that also resists splintering when broken.)

There is currently no way to identify tempered glass that is vulnerable to spontaneous glass breakage. The good news is that when tempered glass breaks – though it may be scary – it does what it’s supposed to do: prevent injuries. Spontaneous glass breakage may be covered by manufacturers’ warranties or by homeowners insurance policies, and the number of reports of breakage is small compared to the amount of tempered glass that is used in homes around the country.

If you would like more information about decorating with glass, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Evelyn Köster, via FreeImages.com