A frightening series of spontaneous glass explosions on balconies of Melbourne apartment buildings has highlighted the dangers of cheap and faulty construction products flooding into Australia.

The falling shards luckily missed passing pedestrians by just a few metres.

The failures are suspected to be cases of spontaneous glass breakage linked to poor manufacturing.

It is thought the balcony balustrades contain nickel sulfide.

This can cause glass to fail when exposed to extreme temperature change, wind or other stresses.

It is also a startling example of growing issue of poor quality building materials making their way into Australia.

These items arrive by boat and plane unchecked.

Where they are then being installed in homes and on buildings – in some cases threatening lives and property.

“It’s a huge problem and more than we know about it,” said chief executive of the Australian Window Association.

Ms Gramlick said the prevalence of building products that did not meet Australian standards,

Ccombined with poor workmanship and installation, meant many buildings would have to undergo repairs in years to come.

The Housing Industry Association said the majority of building products entering the country were not being tested.

This is allowing poor quality items to get through that are not up to Australian Standards.

While spontaneous glass breakage is thought to be rare

There has been made at least three buildings in Melbourne where a number of explosions have occurred.

A builder was recently forced to replace a number of glass balustrades on a residential tower, This was due to the discovery of nickel sulfide impurities.

To read the full article please click below

The Age Article 

Although this incidents occurred in Victoria it is only a matter of time before more cases start to appear here in QLD.

Like most of our articles regarding glass incidents;

We cannot continue to stress enough the importance of using Trades people that you trust.

Read the reviews online to see if they have had many complaints for cutting corners.

Here at True Blue Glass we have shown over the years that we strive to continually exceed our customer expectations

And we do our research on where we are getting our glass from.

And that the materials we use are of the highest quality.

Call us today for any of your glass needs on 3209 8774 we are available 24 hours 7 days a week.

Is it possible for glass explode spontaneously?

This is one of the most asked questions we get from people in the Real Estate Industry.

Spontaneous glass breakage is a phenomenon by which toughened glass  may spontaneously break without any apparent reason.

The most common causes are:

Installation damage

While glass is being moved and installed, it is easy for the glaziers to nick or chip the edges of the glass.

It is also possible for fasteners such as nails used to attach glass stops to nick the glass edges.

These small nicks or chips may not result in immediate breakage.

However, over time, as the glass expands, stress concentrations can develop around the nick, leading to breakage.

In the case of tempered glass the entire unit usually breaks.

Binding in the frame

Glass expands and contracts with changes in temperature and deflects due to wind.

Because of this modern glass is set on resilient blocks at the bottom and with space for expansion at the sides and top.

The gaskets holding the glass in the frame are also usually resilient to cushion the glass against wind buffeting.

If no space is provided at the perimeter of the unit, the glass will bind against the frame

This will cause internal stresses to develop in the glass which can exceed the strength of glass, resulting in breakage.

Internal defects and inclusions in the glass

Nickel sulfide inclusions (“stones”) can be present in the glass.

The most common cause of these is the use of stainless-steel machinery in the glass making and handling process.

Small shavings of stainless steel containing nickel change structure over time and grow, creating internal stresses in the glass.

When these stresses exceed the strength of the glass, breakage results.

This type of breakage is almost always found in tempered glass and is indicated by a distinctive “figure eight” pattern.

Alternatively, small pieces of refractory brick can be eroded by the molten glass from the internal walls of the furnace during processing and become embedded in the finished glass.

These are also known as “stones”, and can also break the glass when the glass is heated, as they create thermal anomalies.

Thermal Stresses

Breakage due to thermal stress is most common in large pieces of sealed insulating glass with heavy heat-absorbing (reflective) coatings.

The coating is usually applied to the “number two” surface (the inside face of the outside lite).

This causes the outside lite of glass to heat up more than the inside lite as the coating converts radiant heat from the Sun into sensible heat.

As the outer lite expands due to heating, the entire unit bends outward. If the spacer bar or other edge condition connects the two lites of glass in a very rigid manner, bending stresses can develop which exceed the strength of the glass, causing breakage.

This was the cause of extensive glass breakage at the John Hancock Tower in Boston WHERE ALL 10,334 PANES OF GLASS HAD TO BE REPLACED

Inadequate glass thickness

A pane that is too large or thin, having not been properly engineered for wind loads on the site, can be broken by the wind.

So as you can see the answer to your question can glass just explode is a yes there a ways that this can happen.

But please be aware if you are a property manager, parent or landlord.

Unless there is clear evidence such as a brick at the scene we cannot accurately determine the cause.

True Blue Glass will not become involved in any disputes between the parties involved.