Glass is an essential component for any type of building. Its transparency enhances daylighting and provides occupants a view to the outside. Whether in retail, office, government, educational, religious, or residential structures, glass is an integral part of the design. As a building material, however, its brittleness can be a deterrence from a security perspective. Laminating glass together with a PVB or ionoplast interlayer can help mitigate security threats that range from smash and grab burglary, forced entry, ballistics, to even bomb blast. With these many different types of security threats, questions have arisen over what level of security is needed, which test standard is applicable, and what type of laminate is required. A test program focused on burglary and forced entry was conducted to investigate the performance of laminated glass made with PVB and ionoplast interlayer. Standards from ASTM, Underwriters’ Laboratories, and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) were chosen as the basis for testing. The results were then compared and grouped based on common laminate makeups.
Vaughn Schauss
Review of Security Glazing Standards and Testing
Company: Kuraray, Houston, USA
About the speaker:
Vaughn Schauss is the Americas Market Manager for Kuraray’s Advanced Interlayer Solutions division. In this role, he works with architects and specifiers, structural engineers, façade consultants and glass fabricators on the specification, design, and use of laminated glass in buildings. Vaughn began his career working directly with glass laminators providing expertise on the lamination process. Now, he concentrates his efforts on structural, security, acoustical, and hurricane applications for laminated glass. Vaughn is active in many industry organizations and standards committees such as ASTM, FGIA, NGA and others.
