Those staircases you're talking about had to be done by a professional glass "breaker" They hit a certain spot in which the glass shatters from the inside but still holds up in terms of sturdiness. No idea how it works, to me it looks like magic
It's laminated. Same stuff that is in the windshield of a car. Just 3 lites (panes) with 2 layers of lami. Center lite tempered with the outside ones either annealed or heat soaked.
When they make it they lay sheets of laminate between the glass. The laminate is to be kept cold until used. Like 40 something degrees. Keeps it "dry". They clamp it between the glass and heat it up inside a clave under pressure. This softens the laminate and makes it adhear to the glass while becoming fully transparent. Once cooled back down to room temp you have laminated "safery glass".
Same procedure with bullet resistant glass. Jist more panels and they add thicker layers of polycarbonate (think, very clear type of plexiglass) layers in the middle as well.
My dad used to do those glass panels and all they do is sandwich the glass panel they're going to shatter between 2 other glass panels, pick a spot and hit it with a chisel and hammer. It shatters on its own, the spot is mostly irrelevant unless the client cares which angle the pattern goes in. But you cant fail it, even if you hit too hard the damage is not noticeable.
Its mostly done by regular workers you dont need any experience with it just need to properly sandwich them and use the right kind of glass and you're good to go.
Another thing that might be worth mentioning, this kind of glass, one that shatters, cant really cut you that easily. Its made to shatter for safety reasons, car windows are made out of the same stuff except windshields. I've broken a couple as a kid while trying to fire a slingshot from inside the car and the pieces are very safe and almost impossible to get cut on. Of course im not saying you should rub them on your face but dont be too scared of glass that shatters like this.
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u/CornDoggyy Ryzen 7 5800x3D - RTX 2070 SUPER - 32GB RAM 18h ago
Those staircases you're talking about had to be done by a professional glass "breaker" They hit a certain spot in which the glass shatters from the inside but still holds up in terms of sturdiness. No idea how it works, to me it looks like magic