Is a windshield for a car made of Tempered Glass?

Question

A buddy and I have an ongoing argument. He thinks a windshield is made of tempered glass and I said it's not tempered it's laminated. We want to clear this up once and for all.

Answer 1

All windshields have three layers. You have a glass in the inside and a another glass in the outside. Both of these glass sandwich a strong vinyl called PVB (poly Vinyl butry), in language terms it's a strong lamination. When impact accrues in the outer glass, the lamination is intact to hold the break together, resulting in a crack. Tempered glass, when made is in a state of compression. It's made in very hot temperatures then it's rapidly cooled this is why when it breaks it's in pieces, which is called dicing. Tempered glass can only be found in your side and back glass. The purpose for temped glass is for safety evacuation in case of a emergency where the doors won't open and the only way out is thur the window, temper glass makes it easier to break in such cases. Now these days more and more luxury cars are coming out with laminated side window, but only the two front side window will be laminated for instance the Mercedes Benz S500. So the bottom line is YES the front windshield is laminated by law according to FMVSS (Federal Motor vehicle Safety Standard). I hope i resolve your argument

Answer 2

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RE:
Is a windshield for a car made of Tempered Glass?
A buddy and I have an ongoing argument. He thinks a windshield is made of tempered glass and I said it's not tempered it's laminated. We want to clear this up once and for all.

Answer 3

How Is Tempered Glass Made

Answer 4

Side and rear windows = tempered and not laminated
Windshield = laminated and NOT tempered. (for strength)
If the windshield was tempered, and a rock from a truck hit it the whole windshield would turn into thousands of little pieces.
I don't think they make tempered AND laminated glass.

Answer 5

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Windows of passenger aircraft are plexiglas 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, with a thin and light acrylic or polycarbonate layer on the inside for insulation. The windshields at the front are layered plexiglas and tempered glass. Car windows are typically tempered glass.

Answer 6

No way its not tempered...One rock hits that and its done...Windshields are always laminated...But i have seen the new Durangos with laminated and tempered side windows! I was in the glass buisness 6 years and never seen a tempered windshield!

Answer 7

It depends on the make and model of the car. Recently there has been a move away from fully tempered glass because of the possibility for spontaneous and violent failure due to thermal instability from the tempering process. So new cars instead use a combination of "heat treating" and polymer lamination to strengthen the glass. There is a difference in "Heat treat" and "fully tempered" glass based on the amount of surface compression after each process (fully tempered is "stronger" with a higher surface compression but is much less stable). You can tell which of these was done by looking for the stamp on the glass near one of the corners.

FT or TF = Fully tempered
HT = Heat treated

Answer 8

i don't know about laminated or tempered but i know that windshields have 2 layers of glass with a plactic in between

Answer 9

I would say tempered because I've never heard of laminating glass for cars for one and two when you hit the window with something it doesn't shatter into a million pieces most times it cracks call a window place and ask them for sure

Answer 10

Passenger windows are a Plexiglas or acrylic plastic. Cockpit windows are usually a sandwich of glass on the outside for wear resistance, and acrylic or Plexiglas inside.