Tempering is the final step in the glass
fabrication process. Glass is heated to approximately 650 degrees Celsius
and then the surfaces are rapidly cooled by air quenching. Tempered safety
glass is about five times stronger than annealed glass. The strength
increase is due to the tempering process that increases surface compression
to twice the amount of tension stress in the center of the glass.
Cameron’s horizontal flat tempering system
is capable of tempering very large lites of glass or multiple smaller lites
of glass in one index cycle. Glass thickness can range from 3mm to
16mm. Both color and thickness are determinants in the length of time
required to temper glass.
