We all look at the world through glass. To a stable and lasting peace - through the fragile glass of glasses, the window glass of an apartment or car. Nobody puts up with danger in our century, therefore, glasses in glasses are replaced with unbreakable plastic, shockproof double-glazed windows are put in apartment windows, and automobile glass is tempered.
How safe are modern side windows? They are safe as long as they are intact. But as for the fragments, things are much worse … To understand, we bought the front “sidewalls” for the “tens” from five different manufacturers and took them to the test center.
The tests were conducted in two main parameters - the nature of the destruction and mechanical strength. An ideal glass should withstand a meeting with a small stone, and if it was destined to break, then only into small fragments with blunt edges - without any hint of razors and daggers.
The sharp heavy core and steel ball in the hands of the testers put everyone in their place: the glasses with the markings of the Borsky glass factory and “Saratovsteklo” meet the requirements of GOST 5727–88 both in terms of mechanical strength and the nature of fracture. Glasses marked OCC KANT satisfy the requirements of GOST only in the first indicator, but do not correspond in the second. Glasses marked STEKLO-LUX and BSG ignore the requirements of GOST.
TEST METHOD
The nature of the destruction (fragmentation)
Glass is hit with a heavy core at specially designated points. It should break into fragments with blunt edges. In any 50/50 mm square there should be at least 40 and no more than 400 fragments. This test simulates the penetration of any solid object that could break it into the glass.
Mechanical strength
Glass must withstand the impact of a steel ball weighing 227 g, falling from a height of two to three meters - depending on the thickness of the glass. This simulates the ingress of stone or, for example, gravel. Glass should not break.
