Service life of glass composites is determined by fracture and corrosion. Delaminations and cracking are the major cause of structural failure. Development of fractures and catastrophic failure can occur on macroscopic and microscopic levels at one time, or in sequence. Safety glass as a composite is composed of two materials: the glass and the reinforcing fibres. One of the main common failures occurs at the interface between the matrix and the fibres. To prevent interlaminar failure and fatigue, good bonding between the matrix and the fibres is needed. Internal damage is also common in glass, especially corrosion damage. Repair of damage is important so that failures do not progress to the ultimate catastrophic failure of breakage. But corrosion damage is hard to detect unless it has developed to macroscopic scale flaws.
