Architectural Decorative Laminated Glass Facts

There are multiple advantages to laminated glass as compared to monolithic in either annealed or tempered form.

• SHATTER RESISTANCE. Architectural laminated glass is generally composed of two or more layers of glass joined together by a thermoplastic material called interlayer. If any glass layer is fractured the other(s) are still intact holding together the overall structure of the laminated panel. Annealed glass has a break pattern with larger pieces and, therefore, provides better post breakage structural rigidity of the laminated glass panel. In contrast, tempered glass breaks into very small pieces and the laminated glass panel's stiffness decreases significantly.
• DECORATIVE FEATURES. Decorative laminated glass may contain several interlayers with various man-made and natural materials incorporated within laminated structure. It provides practically unlimited variations of design features along with durability and cleanliness of the glass surface.
• ANSI AND SAFETY COMPLIANCE. In many applications, such as glass elevator cab panels, stair treads and glass balconies, only laminated glass is allowed to be used for safety purposes and thus any decorative features, such as color, digital imagery or fabrics have to be incorporated within laminated glass structure. For example, New York City Building Code explicitly prohibits the use of back painted tempered glass in elevator cabs. Many states have multiple requirements for hurricane and bullet resistant glass where only laminated glass can be used.
• OrganicA™ LAMINATED GLASS is Avant Art Architectural Glass patented laminated glass product that is comprised of only one, face, glass layer, a decorative interlayer and either corrosion resistant aluminum or translucent thermoplastic. This unique versatile product provides greater impact strength and smaller thickness as compared to the same nominal thickness regular laminated glass. While possessing the same shatter resistant properties, it can be manufactured in 3/16 inch overall thickness to be either framed or adhered to various surfaces. Furthermore, two different designs can be joined together for a glass partition in one laminated glass panel by simply joining two OrganicA™ laminated glass designs back-to-back. If greater post-breakage strength is required, our OrganicA™ laminated glass also comes with interlayer embedded carbon fiber that significantly exceeds ANSI standards.