Posted on April 15, 2019 in Uncategorised
NICKEL SULPHIDE MAY NOT BE TO BLAME FOR UNEXPECTED GLASS FAILURE
There is a problem in the industry with any unexplained glass breakage being too readily blamed on Nickel Sulphide inclusions. Nickel Sulphide has had a bad press over the years and it is very easy to blame this as the cause of an otherwise undiagnosed glass failure.
The risk of a spontaneous breakage in thermally toughened glass that has been heat soak tested in accordance with BS EN 14179-1 is 1 in 400 tonnes of glass.
Based on a typical size pane of glass in a double-glazed unit this equates to a risk of 0.015% or approximately 1 in 7,000 sealed units or 1 in 14,000 panes of glass.
Other much more likely causes of glass failure are impact, other inclusions such as particles of refractory brick, undissolved silica or the chemical element silicone, surface scratches or damage from such as weld spatter or grinding dust. The surface damage can occur at any time during transport, site handling, storage or after installation.
Only Nickel Sulphide inclusions can cause spontaneous failure without any other influence. When the inclusion is not Nickel Sulphide or there has been surface damage to the glass, the toughened glass is weakened and therefore may fail when additional factors come into play to over stress the glass. This could be because the pane is oversize for the thickness of glass supplied or it has been overloaded by wind, snow or maintenance loads, over and above the design loads or it could be additional stress induced in the glass through having insufficient support by the framing system or structure or through poor installation or handling.