We tend to think of glass as fragile–but in fact, glass is pretty strong stuff.
我们往往认为玻璃是易碎的，而事实上，玻璃十分坚固。
A flawless fiber of glass pulled lengthwise is five times stronger than steel!
将一根完整的玻璃纤维纵向拉长后，其坚固程度是钢的5倍！
Although glass is quite strong, it's also very brittle–and the brittleness explains why glass breaks so easily.
玻璃虽然十分坚固，但也很脆弱——这也是玻璃容易破碎的原因。
But windshields in cars and airplanes are much more resistant to breaking than regular glass.
但汽车和飞机的挡风玻璃比普通玻璃更为坚韧。
What Makes Windshield Glass So Tough?
为何挡风玻璃如此结实呢？
Glass is commonly made more resistant to breaking in one of two ways: by tempering or by laminating it.
制造更牢固的玻璃通常有两种办法：钢化或层压。
Tempered glass is first heated just below melting, then exposed to bursts of cold air.
制造钢化玻璃首先是将玻璃加热接近其熔点，然后再将其暴露再冷空气中。
The cold cools and shrinks the surface of the glass faster than the inside, compressing the surface inward.
低温导致玻璃表层比内部更快冷却和收缩。
This more dense, inwardly compressed surface makes the glass stronger, so it takes a lot more force to break it.
由于密度增加，表面收缩内陷，玻璃的强度逐渐增加，因此玻璃更不易破碎。
译文为秀哈英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载!
