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tobuslieven - 2/28/2019 12:50:44 AM

Hi. I'm thinking of using clear acrylic panels in a project because they're resistant to UV, transparent, and fairly strong. But I'd like to make the acrylic more impact resistant. The material I need would be all flat panels.

I'm thinking of a process where the this stack of material would be put in a chamber:

- thin acrylic
- fibre glass
- main thick acrylic piece
- fibre glass
- thin acrylic

Then a fairly high vacuum would be pulled in the chamber, and then the stack would be heated to 160 C or so, where the acrylic melts. This youtube guy built a machine somewhat like this for laminating solar panels. 

Once the stack has melted and been pressed together inside the chamber, the stack would be allowed to cool, the vacuum released, and the stack would be removed.

Are there any show stopper reasons that this wouldn't work? I had discounted using epoxy because I'd heard it isn't great in UV long term, but i'm open to advice.

Cheers, appreciate your input.

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tobuslieven - 2/28/2019 10:01:02 PM

Interesting point about the refractive index mismatch, and clarity. I'd seen wooden canoes covered in fibreglass and resin (I think epoxy), and the composite layer looked super clear. Does epoxy have a closer refractive index match than acrylic, or any thoughts on that?

I wanted to use acrylic rather than polycarbonate because polycarbonate is also vulnerable to UV. I know there are UV inhibitors that can be put in it, but I think ultimately they only delay the damage because polycarbonate is not transparent to UV like acrylic is.

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Lester Populaire - 3/1/2019 5:08:49 AM

If it is in direct contact with the wood you will not notice it as much. Like having your hand in contact with a stained glass window or having some distance between them

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tobuslieven - 3/1/2019 7:36:28 AM

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Lester Populaire - 3/1/2019 5:08:49 AM

If it is in direct contact with the wood you will not notice it as much. Like having your hand in contact with a stained glass window or having some distance between them

I see, yeah that makes sense.