Transparent glass beams could revolutionize building safety, offering stronger, more resilient structures.
The researchers tested different designs of fully transparent laminated glass beams to see how the number and thickness of glass sheets, the interlayer material, and the thermal treatment of glass affect their strength and safety. They found that beams with five sheets of annealed glass broke more gradually and safely than beams with three sheets of annealed or heat-strengthened glass. The type of interlayer material mainly affected the shape of cracks in the glass beams.