ABSTRACT
Float glass produced in other parts of the world may vary in colour but the physical properties are very similar. Rolled plate glass and drawn sheet glass have slightly higher densities because the viscosity required for those processes is higher, but this is unlikely to be significant in design. The absence of crystalline structure prevents plastic flow on a macro scale and so glass exhibits virtually perfect linear elastic behaviour until brittle fracture occurs. Soda lime glass is particularly prone to a type of stress corrosion cracking known as ‘static fatigue’ that makes it weaker under continuous loading than under short-term load. The toughened glass provides high bending strength when the panel is intact, and the heat-strengthened glass provides large chunks and unbroken zones to lock onto the fittings after the panel is broken. When toughened glass fragments it is able to resist compressive loads, but the small particles do nothing to transfer tensile forces.
