Armored glass: construction, types, features

For a long time armored glass has become an integral element of home protection, shop windows, cars from intruders or from armed attack. This element of construction is often called transparent armor. Armored glass found wide application in the lives of ordinary people, and in security and security structures. Their importance in the modern world can not be underestimated.

The construction of armored windows

Armored glass is a translucent product that protects people and property, valuables from theft, damage, spoilage, and also protects from entering the room from the outside through a window opening. The composition of such products includes two elements:

1. Armored glass. It is a few layers of transparent glass, which are glued together by a polymer material, curing under the sun's rays. The greater the thickness of the product, the higher the level of protection.
2. Frame. It is made of aluminum or steel profile, very rarely made of wood. To give the system protective properties, it is strengthened by plates of heat-strengthened steel. Such patches must reliably cover the joint of the frame and glass.

Weight of finished armored structures can be more than 350 kg per square meter. This is ten times more than the weight of a conventional double-glazed unit. To compensate for the weight, the window frames are equipped with electric drives.

Types of armored glass

Armored glass is classified by its ability to withstand a certain type of destructive effect. According to this criterion, all designs can be defined in several groups:

1. Windows with anti-vandal protection.
2. Products resistant to burglary.
3. Structures that protect against firearms.

In a separate group, car protective structures are carried out, since special requirements are imposed on them. The safety class of armored glass and the requirements for their manufacture are specified in GOST 51136-97 and GOST 51136-2008. Each type of transparent protection is installed for protection in specific conditions.

Antivandal glass

Antivandal windows protect people from splinters when attempted by criminals to break it. They are a multi-layered double-glazed window with an air chamber, where a special armored film is glued on the glass. The film, in turn, is made of plastic with a thick section. The fragments "stick" to it, so they do not scatter in different directions. Such designs are used most often on commercial sites and in the private sector to protect both windows and doors, as well as exhibition windows. According to GOST they are divided into three classes - from A1 to A3, each of which is resistant to the impact of a certain force.

Burglar-resistant glass

Burglar-resistant armored glass differs from the anti-vandal variety only in its resistance to destructive effects. Such a product provides protection from repeated blows with a sledge hammer or hammer, is capable of withstanding a ram with a car. Most often, such structures are used to protect banking institutions, shops, institutions with a large turnover of money, as well as shelving for the storage of narcotic drugs. According to domestic standards, depending on how many strokes a cracked glass can withstand, it is assigned a protection class from B1 to B3. The more strokes a blunt or sharp object withstands construction, the higher the class.

Bulletproof glass

Bulletproof glass provides protection against through penetration by bullets or their fragments. They are reinforced multi-layered structures, fastened with a special polymer material. Similar structures are being installed at sites where the risk of armed attack is high: in the MVD offices, at security posts, checkpoints and other similar places. Bulletproof glass is divided into protection classes from B1 to B6a. Tests of structures are carried out by various types of firearms - from the Makarov pistol and the Kalashnikov assault rifle to the Dragunov sniper rifle. During the tests bullets of different mass are used and with steel, heat-strengthened or special core.

Armored glass for car

The car is equipped with reinforced side rear and windshields. Their main distinguishing feature is the service life. If the standard armored window can last several decades, the products for the car serve no more than 5-6 years. This is due to the nature of the loads to which the glass is exposed every day. Such translucent armored elements are a multilayered glass unit, which is additionally reinforced with an anti-impact film. Some of them, in addition to protecting from flying fragments, are protected from ultraviolet radiation. Often the windshields are covered with a thicker film than the side and rear.