Annealed glass that is reheated to just below the softening point and then rapidly cooled to induce compressive stresses in the surfaces and edges of the glass and tensile stresses in the interior. Tempered glass has three to five times the resistance of annealed glass to impact and thermal stresses but cannot be altered after fabrication. When fractured, it breaks into relatively harmless particles. (Ching, 1995)
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