Protective windows and screens; how they work.

We’ve all heard of bulletproof glass, whether from movies, general knowledge or coming across it, and we know it isn’t just glass, but what exactly is it that makes it so durable and what other functions could it have?

Well, the term glass in it isn’t totally untrue, bullet resistant glass does have glass in it. This will be layered into the bulletproof glass several times, only this has normally undergone a tempering process whereby the glass is much sturdier than ordinary glass.

The layers between the tempered glass are then formed of polycarbonate and thermoplastics which are much tougher than glass. This allows a much stronger constructions able to withstand significant impacts and while this is often associated with armoured vehicles and such designed to actually withstand impacts from gunfire, such forms of glass have countless uses outside of military applications.

For a start, anything that is outside and could be vandalised can benefit greatly from having things tougher than glass protecting them. Good examples here include shop windows, which need to be resistant to impacts to help deter robbery, help kiosks, which need to protect LCD display screens from vandalism and dispensing machines which need to protect from both vandalism and theft.

On top of this, protective screening has some incredibly good uses in industrial computer monitor LCDs. In industry environments can be harsh and knocks and scrapes can be an occupational hazard of any equipment in them not to mention, high temperatures and potentially damaging chemicals. This makes screening similar to bulletproof glass, very desirable for covering over display systems and touch screen interfaces which may be used on a plant.

Combining the technology to make durable glass with some clever touch screen technology; projected capacitance can then allow you to make incredibly durable protective layers able to withstand huge impacts, without tarnishing the important stuff inside, this is often how touchscreen kiosks found in town and city centres all over the UK are constructed as well as touchscreens used in industrial applications like on chemical plants, refineries, food processing plants etcetera.

Such glass can also have protective layers on top of that too. This is often to provide a level of scratch resistance to keep the glass clear and usable though again going back to industrial examples, it can be required to have a protective layer to stop chemicals from damaging the surface, again, which could cause problems otherwise.