Blast-resistant glass

University of Missouri researchers are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less expensive than commercial products currently on the market.

Sanjeev Khanna, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Missouri University College of Engineering, said: ’Currently, blast-resistant window glass is more than 1in thick, which is much thicker than standard window glass that is only one-fourth of an inch thick and hurricane-protected window glass that is one-half of an inch thick.

’The glass we are developing is less than one-half of an inch thick. Because the glass panel will be thinner, it will use less material and be cheaper than what is currently being used.’

Conventional blast-resistant glass is made with laminated glass that has a plastic layer between two sheets of glass. The researchers are now replacing the plastic layer with a transparent composite material made of glass fibres that are embedded in plastic.