what is tempered glass

Tempered glass is a type of safety glass that is processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the interior into tension, which causes the glass, when broken, to shatter into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards as ordinary annealed glass does. Tempered glass is about four times stronger than annealed glass. It is used for its safety and strength in a variety of applications, including passenger vehicle windows (apart from windshield), shower doors, aquariums, architectural glass doors and tables, refrigerator trays, mobile phone screen protectors, bulletproof glass components, diving masks, and plates and cookware. When shattered, tempered glass windows can help protect a building’s occupants and equipment from the hazards of large shards of fragmented glass debris. Tempered glass is made by heating annealed glass to an even and uniform temperature of about 700°C and then rapidly cooling it down.