University of Missouri’s blast-resistant glass

This new video from the University of Missouri
demonstrates a special explosion-resistant glass that may offer
protection to federal buildings, other critical infrastructures and
even residences vulnerable to hurricanes.

The problem is that current blast-resistant glass is heavy, thick
and expensive. But, MU researchers are developing and testing this new
glass that is thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale
explosions.

Sanjeev Khanna, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace
engineering in the MU College of Engineering, says the new glass
replaces a plastic layer in the old-style glass with a transparent
composite material made of glass fibers that are embedded in plastic.
The glass fibers, only about 25 microns thick, leave little room for
defects in the glass that could lead to cracking. The use of a
transparent composite interlayer provides us the flexibility to change
the strength of the layer by changing the glass fiber quantity and its
orientation, Khanna says.