Comparison of Tempered and Annealed Glass

There are two main types of glass which are commonly used in glazing industry. These glass types are annealed and tempered glass. Both glass types are different from each other in terms of properties and applications. In this article we will discuss the properties and applications of both glass types but before that we need to understand that what both glass types actually are and how they are different.

Annealed Glass: Annealed glass is the common glass which is used in almost all glazing applications. This is the common glass which doesn’t come with any extra features. Annealed glass can be in different qualities but it doesn’t own any specific feature like thermal resistance or safety breakage.

Tempered glass: Tempered glass is also commonly known as safety glass. This is an advance form of glass and very popular due to its safety features. The different thing about this glass type is that it breaks in small pieces, which makes it safe for humans and pets upon breakage. Because of this feature it is excessively being used in automobiles industry.

Comparison

Here is the comparison of both glass types’ in terms of their features.

Strength:

Annealed glass: As you know that annealed glass is a common standard glass which don’t comes with any extra features so the strength of an annealed glass is standard. It doesn’t have any extra strength as it is in case of tempered glass.

Tempered: The tempered glass is stronger than normal annealed glass. According to calculations tempered glass is 4 to 5 times stronger than normal glass which means it needs 4 to 5 times more force to break as compare to annealed glass. It is because tempered glass contains extra compression on its surface. The extra compression is the only factor which makes it stronger and safe.

Safety

 Safety is yet another feature which differentiates both types of glass. Normal annealed glass comes with no safety features however tempered glass has it. Because of this safety feature tempered glass shatters in small pieces like stones when it breaks. These small stones become less harmful as compare to large pieces with sharp edges.

Cutting and resizing

Tempered glass and annealed glass are also different in terms of resizing and cutting. A normal annealed glass can be cut and resize easily after manufacturing however tempered glass is not resizable when the manufacturing process is done. So glass manufacturing companies cut and resize the piece of tempered glass according to requirements during manufacturing process.