| Fiber reinforced composites are very widely used in a variety of industries. Their wide applicability is due to their lightweight, high strength and stiffness, corrosion resistance, and directional properties. Some of these features have been utilized in developing a more damage resistant laminated glass window panel with a transparent glass fiber reinforced polyester matrix interlayer, which can be a substitute for the conventional poly vinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer. The composite interlayer was suitably modified, by matching the refractive index to light of the glass fibers and the polyester, to make it transparent and hence suitable for use in window panels. The new window panels have been tested for damage susceptibility under hurricane conditions. They have been tested for impact damage due to small and large missile impacts created during a hurricane. The results obtained from the new reinforced window panels have been compared with similar tests on the conventional laminated glass currently used. The reinforced panels have been found to possess significantly higher damage resistance under debris impact loads typically present during hurricanes up to category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. |
