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Laminated Glass

What is laminated glass?

• Standard: BS EN 12543 for laminated glass and laminated safety glass.
• Laminated glass is produced by bonding sheets of glass to one or more interlayers, PVB (polyvinyl butyl) being the most common material for the interlayer.
• The sheets are typically of annealed glass, but may be of heat strengthened or thermally toughened glass.
• The PVB interlayer may be clear, tinted, or coloured, and the most commonly-available thicknesses, in the UK, are 0.38mm, 0.76mm, and 1.52mm.
• 'Special' laminated glasses may have more than two sheets of glass with a PVB interlayer between each sheet.
• 6.38mm thick laminated glass, comprising 2 x 3mm sheets of glass either side of a 0.38mm interlayer, is the thinnest generally available in the UK.

Advantages of laminated glass

• Laminated glass comprised of two or more sheets of annealed glass retains its shape when broken, unlike (unlaminated) annealed glass and thermally toughened glass. This makes it particularly suitable for use in barriers.
• Laminated glass is easily cut and worked, unlike toughened glass. This makes laminated glass preferable to toughened glass for small scale projects using less-sophisticated contractors.

Disadvantages of laminated glass

• Laminated glass comprised solely of sheets of toughened glass does not retain its shape when broken. This must be taken into account if laminated glass of this type is used as a barrier.
• Moisture penetration at the edges may cause debonding between the glass and the interlayer(s) leading, eventually, to complete delamination of the sheet. This may limit the use of laminated glass in external locations unless the edges can be effectively sealed.

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