Heat treated glass Heat soaked toughened glass

Thermally toughened HST glass treated using a method of controlled heating and cooling that locks the surface of the glass in a state of compression. Once it has been toughened, the glass is placed in a furnace where it undergoes a special heating cycle that causes some glasses containing inclusions or impurities to break prematurely. This is known as heat-soak treatment.

Virtually all the glasses in the AGC Flat Glass Europe range can be thermally toughened and subjected to heat-soak treatment: clear or coloured Planibel, Stopsol, Sunergy, Stopray, Imagin and so forth. Some types of glass with 'magnetron' coatings can also be toughened, provided a few adjustments are made to the toughening procedures.

Use: single glazing, insulating glazing, laminated glazing and so on-primarily for applications where the following are required:

• greater resistance to mechanical shocks (glass doors, glass units with mechanical controls, etc.);
• greater resistance to thermal stresses;
• a type of breakage that reduces the risk of injury.

The risk of spontaneous breakage of a toughened glass that has not been subjected to heat-soak treatment cannot be ruled out. It is the responsibility of the client to assess the need to require toughened glass that has been subjected to heat-soak treatment depending on the application of the glass.

Thermally toughened, heat-soak treated glass greatly reduces the risk of spontaneous breakage (see Tell Me More).

Toughened, heat-soak treated glasses cannot be sawn, cut, drilled or processed after treatment.