Auto glass starts out just like all other glass products. It is made
from an amorphous solid material that is typically very brittle and
optically transparent. Many items are made from this material including
windows in homes and offices, drinking vessels, and pretty items used to
decorate the home. Almost all items that are created from this
substance have the common factor of sand.
Soda lime glass is the
most familiar substance used in making the drinking vessels and windows,
and even auto glass. The big problem with the sods lime substance is
that it is brittle, and when it breaks it breaks into large pieces that
can injure people severely. To be used as auto glass the substance needs
to be harder to break than the average drinking vessel is. The soda
lime substance must be tempered before it can be used as windshields in
automobiles, or as doors on commercial properties.
The tempered
variety of this soda lime substance is much harder to break than the
original version is. With the material in its original state you can
easily break it with very little force. Once the material is tempered
you can barely break it unless you manage to strike it on the very edge
of the piece. The tempering process makes the material stronger and it
also makes the material break into small pieces when it does break
instead of into large sections. Small pieces cause less damages to
humans when they come into contact with them.
In order to temper
the material it is gotten hot to the point of melting, and then it is
cooled very slowly. This variety of the familiar material is called
annealed glass. During this process the strength of the material is made
to be ten times what it was originally. The heating and cooling of this
material takes place in a leer, which is a type of kiln.
This
special kiln is needed to bring the substance to the annealing
temperature or annealing point. At this temperature the substance is
still too hard to release from its formed shape, but it is soft enough
that all of the stresses it contains can relax. Once this point has been
reached the item will be allowed to soak up heat until it is an even
temperature throughout. Once the heat soaking process is complete the
substance is cooled to a temperature that is less than the strain point.
Once this temperature has been achieved it is safe for the item to be
quickly dropped to room temperature. At this time the piece can be
drilled, cut to size, or polished.
Friday, April 26, 2013
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