For maximum peace of mind we offer a service to heat soak glass pieces that we produce. Heat soaking is a test for very rare impurities in toughened glass that may cause it to break from structural stress.
As the name implies the glass is heated to 290°C for two hours. If Nickel Sulphide impurities exist in the glass, the piece will break.
Successfully completing the heat soak test indicates that the glass is very unlikely to have significant levels of damaging impurities, making it significantly less likely to break.
For more details on Nickel Sulphide please have a look at the side bar.
Nickel Sulphide
• Nickel sulphide is a byproduct of creating glass in the form of particles invisible to the naked eye.
• All glass includes some amount of nickel sulphide within it.
• In the glass toughening process, glass is cooled rapidly to achieve it’s strength. Nickel sulphide cools much slower and expands after the rest of the glass has already become solid.
• A high inclusion will create structural weaknesses in toughened glass. The heat soaking process will destroy up to 95% of toughened glass with this weakness.