Abstract
This paper describes the polycarbonate acrylic laminated development that can be applied in aeronautics and aerospace transparencies. The case studied is a laminated double-curved transparency (bubble form) used in an observation side window of a military aircraft. Side windows need strength and specific characteristics, similar to windshields, allowing the perfect visualization and image capture. Laminated transparencies composed by different materials have better qualities than the monolithic ones. This kind of transparency can offer high mechanical and chemical resistance, high transparency, no fragmentation and easy maintenance or recovery. A significant amount of information about materials and processes was jointed in order to build the reinforced transparency and validate this study. The final results were analyzed based on two points of view: mechanic resistance and, especially, optical quality.
Highlights
Whenever it is necessary to see or capture images through a protective barrier, it arises the need to define it and build it as effectively and efficiently as possible
Materials Choice Nowadays, most of civil and military aircraft windows are made with acrylic (PMMA) due to its transparency, availability, strength and ease maintenance, fulfilling all the aviation requirements and standards (Blass 1985; LaPluma and Bridenbaugh 1988)
This material meets the requirements for external surfaces of reinforced transparency
Summary
Whenever it is necessary to see or capture images through a protective barrier, it arises the need to define it and build it as effectively and efficiently as possible. The materials chosen, suitable for the construction of reinforced transparencies for aerospace industry, as windshields, must to be taken into account, as well as all loads they are subjected to, including structural terms, mechanical and thermal loads (Fam and Rizkalla 2006). The modern engineering and architecture “design” requires glazing materials that offer high levels of safety and high-performance mechanical properties. These properties include: ballistic resistance; wind loads; explosion; and physical attacks resistance. The laminated glazing is the union of multiple layers of various materials such as glass, polymeric films, resins, and flexible sheets of transparent polymers (polycarbonate and/or acrylic), usually applied to obtain complex geometric shapes (Fixler 1977; Smith et al 1996)
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