The glass used in car windows is very different than the one used in the windows of your home. Glass typically used in the windows of your residence will shatter into extremely sharp and dangerous shards when it breaks. The glass used in car windows, on the other hand, is actually quite harmless when it breaks. So, what type of glass is used in car windows?
What Type of Glass is Used in Car Windows
There are several ways you can upgrade your car, from a new car suspension, new tires, to windows; this article will discuss the different types of glass used in vehicles and their varying properties. We’re going to break down the two main types of glass used in vehicles and where they’re used.
Glass Throughout the Car
Vehicles typically have different types of glass because each type of glass serves a different purpose. For instance, windshield glass is primarily used to protect from wind, dirt, insects and other elements while traveling.
Auto glass is either tempered or laminated. The glass usually used for the rear window and the front and rear door windows are made from tempered glass while the windshield is made from laminated glass.
Laminated Glass
Laminated glass was first manufactured in the 1920s when glass makers in the auto industry stuck two sheets of glass together with a sheet of PVB (polyvinyl butyral) between them. The sheets of glass and PVB were fused together using heat and that’s how laminated safety glass was born.
Laminated glass will break during a collision but it will not fly into shards. The glass is designed not to shatter even after taking heavy impact. This eliminates the possibility of passengers in a vehicle being injured by flying glass. In case the occupant in the vehicle is thrown into the window, the laminated glass acts somewhat like a cushion.
Although laminated glass is used extensively in the auto industry, it has a wide range of applications and can work well in any situation where there’s the possibility of impact by a person. One common application of laminated glass is on shop windows.
Tempered Glass
Tempered glass is created by treating glass with rapid heating and cooling processes. As a result, tempered glass will break into small pebble-like pieces of glass when it breaks. These pieces are not sharp and will not cause bodily harm if they fall into a person’s body. Whenever tempered glass has a small chip or crack from something such as a fallen rock, it cannot be repaired. As such, the entire glass will need to be replaced.
Tempered glass is also used in other industries to create products such as cell phone screens, baking dishes or sunglasses.
Bottom Line
So what type of glass is used in car windows? The majority of glass used in cars is tempered. Glass, in this case, is used to refer to the side windows, quarter glass, vent glass and the glass roof (if the car has one). The most important glass on any vehicle, however, is the windshield, and it’s made from laminated glass.
