Photodegradation in ballistic laminates: Spectroscopy and lifetime extension
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Properties of Organic Materials Dept.
Several years ago, the Materials and Process Sciences Center (Org. 1800) was asked by Dept. 9613 to study the materials aging issues which had led to the loss of ballistic protection by Armored Tractor (AT) windshields and windows. The authors speculated that this loss of impact strength was due to photodegradation of the polycarbonate (PC) inboard ply. They developed a spectroscopic method to identify changes in the outboard surface of the PC, and showed that the changes in the surface which occurred upon natural aging in the field could be reproduced by exposing the laminates to a simulated solar flux. Based on these results, they recommended changes in the adhesive interlayers to filter out the ultraviolet (UV) light causing the aging problem. Working with the laminate vendor, PPG, they re-designed the laminates to implement these changes and block essentially all UV light from the inboard ply. The most recent phase of this work involved accelerated solar aging of laminates made with the new design to verify that photoaging effects have been blocked by the new materials. They report here the results of that study, and recommended follow-on work.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 270784
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-96-1806; ON: DE96013207; TRN: AHC29617%%116
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Jun 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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