Thank you most helpful. I do need to apologize for the fact that I accidentally dropped my sub testing under Franks poetic outlook. I read it and used it to send out my message without renaming the subject. does anyone else know of any poly test that have been done or have anything else. ohh yea, I asked my local glass man how much 1.5" acrylic ran and he told me $24 a square foot. I don't know if he was right since he was guessing. what is a good rate on this material and where can I find 2" thick stock for my front view port? any on line suppliers. what do you mean to expensive. I figured you guys where made of money LOL just kidding.
Hi there - I brought just that topic up a few
months ago about polycarbonate vs. acrylic. Phil Nuytten was kind enough
to give his two cents. I'm paraphrasing here.
First: Acrylic has been researched to the nth
degree and is very predictable because of that research. The numbers
are out there.
Second: It is more brittle, however, and in an
ambient wet or dry sub my choice would be the polycarbonate simply because of
collision, either with a falling anchor or a bump into a reef.
Third: Poly under pressure will creep
apparently. That makes it unpredictable. Which way is it going to flow,
etc. Bad news.
Forth: Poly is really really really
expensive.
Fifth: Poly is stronger but scratches easier and is
harder to get the scratches out (I think I've got this one right)
Sixth: They may have different UV light properties
that exclude using one or the other depending on your mission
statemtent.
Seventh: Failure with acrylic is often
catastrophic, meaning it's sudden. I would imagine incipient creep with
poly would give some indication of failure, especially with strain gauges
attached.
Some pros, some cons. Hope this
helps.
Rick L
Vancouver