Nickel Sulphide Inclusion

Phenomena in glass

Nickel Sulphide Inclusion is a naturally occurring phenomenon in glass. Impurities can still be contained in the glass pane after its manufacture and toughening processes. Small particles of Nickel Sulphide can still be present in the glass at installation.

Visually, you will not able to see these tiny particles of metal but they can still be present in the glass, benign until they are aggravated.

If there is rapid heating in a glass panel with Nickel Sulphide Inclusion, whether that be due to internal heating or direct sun light, the impurity will be heated. When heated particles vibrate the resulting vibration can cause glass breakages.

A very simple way to determine whether a glass breakage has been caused by Nickel Sulphide Inclusion is to watch out for the ‘Butterfly Effect’ pattern on the glass. The implosion will centre around a singular point on the glass and will fan out in a butterfly wing formation.

Heat Soaking

Unfortunately, there is no way to totally remove the risk of Nickel Sulphide inclusion. In a standard pane of glass, the risk of Nickel Sulphide Inclusion is 1m2 in every 10,000m2 of glass. But you can reduce the risk by putting the glass through a finishing process called Heat Soaking.

The Heat Soaking process includes treating the glass further after completion, in large heat soaking ovens. The glass is heated to very high temperatures in an effort to force any panel with Nickel Sulphide impurities to shatter, reducing the risk of broken panels to the end user.

This process will increase the cost of the glass but will reduce the risk of a Nickel Sulphide Implosion down to 1m2 in every 1 million m2 of glass.

If you are worried about Nickel Sulphide Inclusion and implosion be sure to specify heat soaked glass panels.

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Originally published at technical.iqglassuk.com.