Flat glass is heated until red hot, carefully formed to the desired shape, then tempered by super cooling to trap high energy within the glass. The resulting bent tempered glass has up to a fourfold strength increase compared to annealed glass of the same thickness and if broken, breaks into an innumerable number of relatively small fragments of more or less cubicle shape
This product begins as flat glass commonly selected from the broad range of commercial float products including clear, ultra clarity low-iron, grays, bronzes, greens, and blues. The surface may have a reflective, low-e, self-cleaning, or other pyrolitic coating. Specific colors and coatings are often known simply by the brand names assigned by primary glass manufacture.