Sounds bat shit crazy I know. But I live next to a rail depo. During WWII a small village next to the tracks not real far from where I am was wiped off the map when a train loaded with ordnance exploded. Everyone in the village died, no broken glass needed. I know they don't move ordnance like back in the WWII days but they move haz literally by the train load. In modern buildings hit by terrorizors most of the injurys and deaths were caused by broken glass if the building didn't fall down on them. I don't think I will be attacked by terrorists, more like a victim of other peoples stupidity, since there is an endless supply of stupid people and a lot of haz coming through here eventually stupidity and haz will meet, only a matter of time. A shipping container full of fireworks or a several thousand gallon propane car could easily blow in windows but not flatten houses from a half mile away. Then today at harbor freight I was buying a fiberglass welding blanket and thought of this. The fiber glass blanket is thick and heavy and may be really good at stopping knife like glass shrapnel. I'm think test it with compressed air, glass bottles and a bb gun if just compressed air isn't enough. I have seen the actual kevlar blast curtains and they are expensive, over 1000 per window, but you get what you pay for I think they are rated to stop something like plate glass shattered from a near by car bomb attack against a building. I don't need that much.
British found out during WW II that even taping the glass would cut down on deaths due to flying glass. Have often wondered about blast effect on multiple panes with an E coating, two or three layers deep. Required here due to "energy efficiency rules" in all new construction here and I only know that the old single pane ones broke into shards that could be dangerous. If have the time and money , I would prefer to have "indian shutters" with a steel shutter that closed and locked. Sounds like a fiber glass curtain would be a good idea for both heat retention, exclusion, and blast effects.
I have read web articles describing the use of fibreglass cloth as a component in making improvised body armour...using multiple layers of fibreglass cloth would help in protecting against some flying debris. Protection against shards of glass, I'm less certain. Experimentation might be a way of evaluating the concept. http://thehomegunsmith.com/pdf/Poor_Mans_Bullet_Proof_Vest.pdf Fiberglass as Armor? Sure!
I think window tint would get you what you want. I seem to remember reading about about it being used to retrofit some windows after Oklahoma City. why not
Saw some at a facility once that were canvas with something like small chain mail between the layers, used to protect workers from destructive testing.
Isn't too practical, but the blast mats they use when breaking rock really work well. Hold down the debris and let the blast effect pass thru. Cloth with a layer of flexible mesh might be the way to go. Interesting subject and the difference between store bought, kevlar curtains and lexan windows, and home made would probably be 10 to 100 times cheaper for the home made. .
The low e coating they talk about on the new windows just means lowered emissivity compared to standard glass. I think they just highly polished or slightly reflectorized coating on the glass. All it does is reduce the inferred heat given off by the glass and reduce the amount of IR absorbed by the glass. It is a way to slow down heat transfer, which is exactly what you want an insulated window to do.
You can also get that inexpensive window coating from Homedepot, looks like stained glass but is plastic. Pretty and helps with shattering. My one concern on most coating ... on a day to day basis... is light reduction inside the house. For one time emergency leather curtains.
OP4 In My former life I was a VP of sale maketing and biz Dev for a armor company for 10 years. One of the main components in our vehicle armor systems was eglass laminated panels about 1/2 inch thick. So you are on the right track. Depending on the design/build of those blankets, you may be able to introduce resin like polyester boat resin (cheaper the expoy) and make hard armor panels too. We supplied soft armor blankets for the Marines in thier LAVs. They were made with several layers of unidirectional kelvar inside a 1000 dinear cordura nylon
There is a sliding door glass called Hurculite I think, and it breaks in to balls you'd be hard pressed to get cut on. Or Plexiglas or Lexan are good alternatives as well. The other recommendation I might add is, to have plywood shutters well fit to the window frame, and the means to close them securely . For the sake of looks they could be painted to look as though you are looking through a window at curtains inside so no one would be the wiser, simply appearing to have very large windows while open.
Found this and wondering if you could make interior window inserts Midcoast Green Collaborative - Interior Storm Instructions
It looks interesting, Ganado, and although it would probably help reduce heating costs in winter; being a film that is vulnerable to sharp objects*, it would seem not to offer much by way of blast or ballistic protection.
well i was thinking more along the lines of make blast prrof window inserts but now sure how you would secure them from inside.
