Although the history of glass usage in furniture production has centuries-old way there is not any doubt that glass has made a revolution in contemporary furniture industry. Due to appeared technologies in manufacturing glass has gained new qualities and this made possible to produce dinner and coffee tables from glass, stands for home electronics (TV stands, entertainment centers) and many other furniture items. Especially manufactures glass surfaces became more durable and safe in usage.

Simple glass is manufactured by means of compounding of several inorganic elements. For its production processed glass, quartz sand (Si02), dross, dolomite and limestone is used. The heated and melted mass is cooled off up to room temperature within short period of time in order to avert crystallization which is significant for transparent glass receiving. The tempered glass is produced by its heating close on 650 degrees Celsius. Then it is cooled by specially directed air flows in the way the surface of glass can get cold faster than its inner mass. The cooling of an inner mass is continued under room temperature. During the process the compression of different temperature layers takes plays and then the changes of common qualities occur: the glass becomes more durable and if it breaks than the release of energy of heightened compression leads to formation of small and safe particles.

For the glueing of various glass surfaces the high-technology process with ultra violet radiation (UV – ultra violet light, the rays of 315 – 400 nanometres spectrum) is used. As a result of this glueing process the place of contiguity of surfaces stays colourless and transparent. Depending on type of glue the fastening can be rigid or elastic. For the gluing high-quality glue the durability of which much exceeds the solidity of glass is used. The main advantages of this process are the simplicity of its use, cleanness of production, stably high quality and short interval of time necessary for gluing. For its technological features glass furniture requires the following rules of care:

• You should not put hot or very cold objects on glass surface. It is necessary to use trivets or special covering in order to prevent glass surface from direct physical contact of such objects.
• You should not expose the glass surface to heighten loads and mechanical effects.
• You should not hit the glass surface by hard and heavy objects.
• It is necessary to use humid material (cloth) and dishwashing while maintenance of glass surface. You should not use laundry detergents or any other substances containing abrasive materials as they can scratch the glass.

Following these simple rules glass furniture will serve you for long period of time. I hope that this information will be of great use to you when choosing and using glass furniture in your home or office.