BREAKING OF FLAT GLASS - PART 4 - SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FRAGMENTS FROM VEHICLE WINDSCREENS

The distribution of glass fragments on the ground in front of and to t he sides of a car was examined when a windscreen is crazed or shattere d from the outside of the vehicle. The number of fragments in the vehi cle was also examined. Both toughened and laminated screens were used. The number of fragments in front of the window decreased with increas ing distance. Very few fragments were found to the sides of the car. A n average of over 1400 fragments in the range 0.25-1.0 mm was found in the car when the window was crazed. As would be expected, more fragme nts were produced by shattering, rather than by crazing toughened glas s. There was no significant difference in the number of fragments prod uced between crazing toughened and laminated glass. When toughened or laminated screens were crazed, the fragments recovered inside the car were from the inner surface. Fragments outside the car came from the o uter surface. When the screen was shattered, glass fragments from the outer surface of the screen were found inside the car and vice versa. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.