Abstract
Ready commercial supply of "thin" glass (< 1mm thickness) in relatively large plate sizes (> 2 sq. m) has raised the possibility of new light weight glazing structures. The inherent compliance of "thin" glass, is however, expected to limit many practical applications where deflection behavior determines the glazing design. One potential solution to this deflection limit is to combine "thin" glass with a less dense polymer to enable stiff, lightweight composite laminates. In this contribution we examine the mechanical behavior of such laminates. It is shown that optimum light weight laminates are best achieved through the use of a relatively stiff, polymer ionomer interlayer (DuPont SentryGlasR). We present results of bending experiments in which laminate deflection and glass stress has been monitored as a function of load for various laminate structures. Interpretation of the laminate mechanics using effective thickness concepts and finite element modeling is also presented.
