Protect your house with hurricane proof glass-Laminated Glass

 

Hurricane proof glass & windows background

Hurricanes are getting stronger and stronger. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), studies have shown that compared with 20-25 years ago, the wind speed of hurricanes has increased by 5%, which entrained more water vapor.

At the same time, on coastlines prone to hurricanes, both population and property values are rising-this will make costly natural disasters more frequent. In the United States alone, there was a loss of 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2016; in 1980, this figure was only 300 million U.S. dollars (inflation-adjusted figure).

After gaining attention after Hurricane Andrew destroyed the southeastern United States in 1992,Florida law finally stipulates that any house built after 2001 should be constructed with hurricane-resistant windows or hurricane proof shutters.Miami-Dade certificate was also launched to prove the windows&glass rationality in Dade county.

hurricane in USA

How the hurricane cause damages to your house?

The hurricane can cause damages through 2 ways:

1. The hurricane can be classified into 5 levels:

Level 1: 119-153km/h

Level 2: 154-177km/h

Level 3: 178-209km/h

Level 4: 210-249km/h

Level 5: >249km/h

The hurricane always brings huge wind speed and wind pressure,which rip shingles, boards and insulation off roofs, quickly exposing your home to the elements,beside that,everything that exposed outside can be involved in the wind and hit the glass.

hurricane destroy glass-morn

Once the glass broken,the glass fragments become projectiles that can hurt people in the vicinity.

2. Damages after the windows pull out or falling down.

Not only the glass fragments after broken,if the windows frame is not strong enough,the windows itself can be ripped and the barrier between interior and exterior is eliminated.The wind go directly inside the room and destroy everything inside.

These vulnerabilities allow water to seep into your home, causing immediate and long-lasting damage to your property and belongings.

hurricane destroy-in China

What’s hurricane proof glass?

Heat treated monolithic glass cannot be used as hurricane proof glass,even through tempered glass strength is 3-5 times higher than normal float glass,but as it can be break into fragment after broken,the fragment will cause further injury to people when the hurricane comes with big storm and wind.

tempered glass breakage -hurricane proof glass

So the hurricane proof glass must meet several requirement:

1. High strength and Difficult to break.
2. Glass keep integrity and not be penetrated after breaking.

For hurricane windows,the glass and window frame must be fixed and won’t fall in the wind.Thus hurricane proof glass can be classified into 3 types:

1. 
   

   PVB laminated glass.

Of course the PVB laminated glass here is tempered laminated glass with polyvinyl butyral.Tempered glass itself has high strength and even one piece broken in the hurricane,the interlayer can keep the glass overall integrity,meanwhile work as a barrier to prevent the inner piece glass been impacted .The PVB interlayer also prevent the glass been penetrated.

2. 
   

   SGP laminated glass.

PVB laminated glass will collapse once the 2 piece glass all broken,the PVB  interlayer is soft and has low shearing modulus,cannot hold the broken glass.

SGP laminated glass has high strength.SGP laminated glass bearing capability is 2 times that of PVB laminated glass,but the bending deflection of SGP laminated is only 1/4 of PVB laminated glass under the same thickness and load condition.
The tearing strength of SGP interlayer is 5 times higher than PVB film,even if the glass breaks,the SGP can also stick the glass and form a temporary structure while keeping small bending deformation,it can withstand a certain amount of load and whole piece laminated glass won’t fall or deform. Laminated glass processed with SGP interlayer film can effectively block damage to buildings when a hurricane strikes. it can greatly improve the impact resistance of safety glass. Performance, anti-theft, anti-riot performance and anti-disaster performance.

Learn more:PVB Laminated glass VS SGP laminated glass

3. 
   

   Polycarbonate laminated glass.

PC board is not easy to break, and its compressive strength is 250 times that of float glass, and it is 50-100 times stronger than that of tempered laminated glass. Even if it is hit with a hammer, there is no risk of breakage. The total area of the enterprise can accept a crash compressive strength of 91kgf-cm/cm, and a tensile strength of 739kgf/cm^2.

Polycarbonate laminated glass are usually used as anti intrusion glass,and bulletproof glass,so it has the highest strength against hurricane,but its price is extremely high.

Below video offered by Rizhao Fangding which shows the excellent safety performance of PC laminated glass.

Hurricane proof glass costs

1. PVB Tempered laminated glass: Typically laminated glass combination is 10+1.52PVB+10 ,now exw price is about USD50/SQM. Thicker glass and PVB interlayer will cause higher price.
2. SGP laminated glass: It depend on the SGP interlayer thickness, 6+0.89SGP+6 exw price is USD65/SQM,while 6+1.52SGP+6 exw price is USD95/SQM.
3. PC laminated glass:the extra costs is PC board price, usually USD30-50/SQM higher than same combination glass without PC board.

Despite simple laminated glass ,the hurricane resistant glass also can be made into laminated insulated glass to increase the glass thermal insulation performance.All kinds of low e coatings,warm edge spacer,argon can also be added to further decrease the glass U value.

Hurricane resistant glass can not only been used in glass curtain wall,glass skylight,railings,windows&doors,but also used as structural glass applications,for example glass stairs,floors,glass bridge,and special glass for its awesome safety performance:Bulletproof glass,anti-intrusion glass etc.

Windows frames requirement for hurricane resistant windows

The glass is only part of hurricane proof windows,the combination of glass and the frame is your good protector against the storms.The windows water tightness,air tightness and wind resistance are the most important points.

Water tightness:

when the doors and windows face the storm, they can still keep the interior dry, and there is no trouble of water leakage. Among the doors and windows of various materials, aluminum alloy doors and windows have better water tightness.

watertightness of hurricane proof window

Wind resistance:If a high-impact force can knock glass out of its fitting, then rain, wind, and debris will enter through the frame space. In extreme cases, your entire window could be pushed through, letting Mother Nature directly into your home mid-storm.

Heavy duty framing and strong enough installation is the most important factor protecting your property,so identify and selecting the right hurricane windows manufacturer and supplier is essential ,especially when the windows costs is extremely high.

Another point to consider is the surface treatment of your windows frames,seashore airs always contains salt and other component that cause corrosion on your frame and decrease it’s strength,and affect the appearance.

hurricane proof folding doors-morn

Morn is your turnkey hurricane proof glass manufacturer and supplier in China,if you got any hurricane proof glass requirement,contact us,let’s work together to protect your house.

laminated glass VS Tempered glass -Safety glass difference

 Both laminated glass and tempered glass belongs to safety glass and widely used in our daily life,whether it’s glass balustrade,glass shower doors,glass pool fence,glass railings,table tops glass etc.Then how about the difference between laminated glass and tempered glass,how should we select from them,here we introduce the difference between these safety glass options.

What’s tempered glass?

Tempered glass is made of float glass which is firstly heated to softening point then rapidly cooled down by air,to enable even compression stress on the glass surface.During the instant cooling procession,external glass is solidified because of rapid cooling process,and as internal glass cools down slower and would make glass surface formed a compression stress.

Meanwhile,internal glass produces tensile stress with further makes glass mechanical strength of glass up to double increment and to be with good thermal stability.

Applications:Tempered glass is a safety glass ,extensively applied in areas which has critical request of high mechanical strength and safety,such as glass door,curtain wall,interior glass partition,elevators,showcase,windows&doors,furniture and household appliances.

What’s laminated glass?

Laminated glass is made of two or more piece glass sandwiched with multi layers interlayer(PVB,SGP or EVA interlayer) under high temperature and pressure.The appearance and installation of laminated glass are the same as tempered glass,but much more durable.

Due to its unique features,laminated glass can be extensively used in building skylight,elevated floor,high grade curtain wall,and window,furniture,showcase,aquarium etc.

Difference 1:Status after breakage

The existing surface compression makes tempered glass stress relatively stable ,and glass strength is 3-5 times higher than float glass.The easiest way to break a tempered glass is to hit the weakest glass corners,after glass breaking,it will shattered into many small pieces with obtuse angles which won’t cause severe hurt to human body.

tempered glass breakage

For laminated glass,whether its annealed laminated glass or tempered glass,the interlayer can quickly absorb and weaken a mass of energy when laminated glass is attacked by outside force.It’s hard to be penetrated and remain integrally in the frame even when it’s broken because of the high cohesion and persistent interlayer.

Laminated glass can avoid personal or property damage caused by the falling of the glass, and the whole piece of glass remains intact and can continue to resist impact, wind and rain.

With special layers glass&interlayer, laminated glass can be made into hurricane proof glass,anti-intrusion glass and even bulletproof glass to offer the highest safety protection function.

Below video shows what happened when tempered glass and laminated glass broken:

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Difference 2: UV resistance

Ultraviolet rays in solar radiation are the main cause of fading and damage to carpets, furniture, art paintings, curtains and many chemical fiber fabrics.

But many things in furniture are placed indoors, why ultraviolet rays can still come in. Because the long-wave ultraviolet rays in the ultraviolet rays cannot be blocked by the glass, it will also form an ultraviolet radiation zone in the room. Years of UV radiation can cause furniture to fade and age.

Laminated glass can effectively prevent UV(as high as more than 99% of UV) penetrate the glass and won’t cause furniture fading.

Difference 3:Acoustic performance

Under the same thickness,laminated glass can reduce the both STC and OITC.

The interlayer ，whether it’s PVB,SGP or EVA can effectively prevent sound wave.Sound wave can be obviously weakened when it goes through laminated glass.Here is a soundproof performance comparison between laminated glass and tempered glass.

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Glass Configuration	10mm	55.2 Lami	55.2 Acoustic PVB	12mm	66.2 Lami	66.2 Acoustic PVB
STC /Db	34	35	39	36	36	39
OITC /Db	32	32	34	33	32	34

Difference 4:Energy Saving performance

Tempered glass U value is always summer 5.28w/m2.k,and in Winter it’s even higher 5.81w/m2.k, in summer the glass temperature is very high after absorb solar heat and may cause glass thermal breakage.

Compared with tempered glass,laminated glass U value ,SHGC is relatively low and save certain energy costs.When low-E coatings been applied on laminated glass,especially hard coated low-e coating,such as AGC-Planibel G,Sunergy Clear ,Pilkington Energy Advantage are used,the U value is just 50-60% of normal tempered glass,it can significantly decrease energy costs and used in commercial buildings such as point supported curtain wall,all glass curtain wall.

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Glass Type	Glass Substrate	LT	U Summer	U-Winter	SC
AGC Planbel G	Clear	80	3.06	3.87	0.78
AGC Sunergy	Clear	69	3.42	4.17	0.68
AGC SY-48	Clear	51	3.71	4.38	0.55
Energy Advantage	Clear	83	2.74	3.61	0.82
SGE 60	Crystal Grey	56	2.86	3.71	0.61
SGC 60	Euro Grey	42	2.87	3.72	0.55

Difference 5:Available extra processing&application

Color: As we know,tempered glass is made with float glass with limited color options,Green,blue,grey,bronze,clear ,low iron,it cannot achieve other colors the architect and designers want.

While laminated glass interlayer has numerous color options which made any color is possible.

COLORFUL-PVB-OPTIONS-MORN

Despite colorful glass options,many other materials can be used in the laminated glass to get special effects:

Dichroic film -Dichroic laminated glass

Organic&metal mesh -Decorative laminated glass

PC board – Bulletproof laminated glass

Gradient EVA interlayer- Gradient laminated glass

Smart film -PDLC smart switchable glass

Acoustic PVB: Professional Acoustic laminated glass .

Fireproof interlayer -Fireproof laminated glass

SentryGlas-Plus interlayer -Hurricane proof glass

Difference 5:Price Difference

As laminated glass got an extra laminating,high temperature and pressure process,laminated glass price is always higher than same thickness tempered glass.Here is a brief price difference between 12mm clear tempered glass, 5+1.52+5 float laminated glass,5+1.52+5 tempered laminated glass,5+1.52+5 SGP laminated glass,laminated glass price can be 2-5 times higher price than same thickness tempered ones.

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Glass Type	Ref Price
12 clear tempered	22
11.52 float laminated	29
11.52 tempered laminated	32
11.52 SGP tempered laminated	100

Tempered glass or laminated glass?

With above comparison,we know that laminated glass can offer better protection level,high price and more variety functions,but when shall we select tempered glass and when laminated glass?

As a professional glass manufacturer ,below is the suggestion from our glass experts:

1. For Interior application and low rise buildings,tempered glass is enough.

Interior applications,for example shower rooms,kitchen cabinet,glass partition,glass railings,glass balustrade glass,pool fence glass ,greenhouse glass,the tempered glass can offer enough strength to protect your safety.

Of course some customers want the glass unique and more smart,laminated glass can have many functions &color options to achieve customer’s requirement,whether it’s acoustic glass,thermal insulation glass,privacy protection glass,or decorative glass.

Frameless-Glass-Balustrades

2. For commercial buildings,laminated glass is necessary.

Commercial building ,as more people and more crowded,laminated glass can offer better protection.

Another reason is tempered glass self explosion is always a safety problem for customers,even though factory can test the glass through heat soaking test to reduce glass spontaneous breakage possibility,laminated glass is more smart option ,after all,the both piece glass break possibility is much lower.

3. Some areas that must use laminated glass

As tempered glass cannot keep integrity after breaking,the fragments will fall after broken,so some areas laminated glass is a must during design process,these areas include glass canopy,glass skylight, outdoor glass bridge,interior glass floors,glass staircases,curtain wall glass,bank bulletproof glass .

Morn is your turnkey tempered glass and laminated glass manufacturer and supplier in China,welcome contact us for more information.

Download this article here:laminated glass VS Tempered glass -Safety glass difference