How is it made?
Laminated glass is produced by permanently bonding two pieces of glass together with a tough plastic interlayer (polyvinyl butyral) under heat and pressure. The interlayer material is invisible when viewed through the glass. With glass on either side, the finished lite is indistinguishable from monolithic glass when installed in a frame. Most often, laminated glass is produced from annealed glass, but heat strengthened or tempered can be used when special performance needs are required.

Laminated glass may crack under impact, but typically remains integral.	Annealed glass typically produces long, sharp-edged splinters upon breakage.

What is it used for?
Laminated glass is used for both safety and noise reduction applications. One benefit of laminated glass is that, if broken, glass fragments adhere to the plastic interlayer rather than falling free and potentially causing injury. Laminated annealed glass can be cut or drilled. Laminated glass is required in sloped glazing applications that exceed any of the following conditions:

• The area of each lite (monolithic glass) or unit (insulating glass) exceeds 16 square feet.
• The highest point of the glass is greater than 12 feet above any walking surface or other accessible area.
• The nominal thickness of each lite exceeds 3/16 inch.