Safety Glass • Laminated and Tempered Glass

Safety glass is used in automobiles. Safety glass is something many of us look through every time we ride inside a vehicle or enter a public building. There are two kinds of safety glass: Laminated and Tempered.

Automakers began using laminated safety glass, also known as auto glass, for automobile windshields in 1927. To make laminated safety glass, the manufacturer sandwiches a thin layer of flexible clear plastic film called polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between two or more pieces of glass. The plastic film holds the glass in place when the glass breaks, helping to lessen injuries from flying glass.

The film can stretch while the glass still sticks to it. It’s difficult to penetrate laminated safety glass compared to normal window pane glass. The "sandwich with some give" that laminated safety glass is made of helps keeps passengers in a vehicle!

Laminated safety glass has two other additional benefits.

• It reduces transmission of high frequency sound.
• It blocks 97 percent of ultraviolet radiation.

Tempered safety glass is a single piece of glass that gets tempered using a process that heats and quickly cools the glass to harden it. The tempering process increases the strength of the glass 5 to 10 times that of untempered glass.

Tempered safety glass breaks differently than regular clear glass.  Normal window panes and mirrors break into sharp jagged pieces. When tempered safety glass is struck it breaks into little pebble-like pieces without sharp edges. It is used in the side and rear windows of automobiles.

Contact Valley Glass today for a free estimate at 1.877.905.9080

Rely on us for quality, experience and all your glass needs!

Valley Glass

10235 SE 260^th Street

Kent, WA. 98030

253.216.8383

A Locally, Family Owned and Operated Glass Business Serving King and Pierce County since 1946.