Laminated glass, or lami as it's often called, is a common type of safety glass. But what exactly is it? Put simply, laminated glass is two (or more) panes of glass, layered with a thin polymer coating. This layering achieves multiple benefits.
Firstly, and the most common reason for using lami, is safety. Multiple layers of glass are contributing to the strength of the pane, making it more difficult to break. And when it does eventually break, the polymer layer holds the whole thing together, so you don't have shards of glass falling. Instead, the break spreads out from the point of impact in a spiderweb pattern, as can be seen in the picture to the right. This also helps with security. Even once the glass is broken, the piece remains in place as a barrier.
Another benefit to laminated glass is for sound dampening. With multiple layers to pass through, sound waves do not transmit nearly as easily as with a single pane of glass. We often install glass units with a pane of lami on buildings that face a highway, to greatly reduce the noise.
Finally, laminated glass allows for a great deal of variety. While the standard version is two clear, annealed panes, with a clear polymer layer, any of those components can be changed for a custom order. That allows for tint, low emissivity (low-e) glass, obscure glass, or any other options you can think of. Lami can even be made with tempered glass, when used in a location where broken glass has the potential to cause serious injury, such as a glass railing above a waling surface.
Ultimately, the only limitations to what can be done with laminated glass are your imagination!
~Fanon