Listers,
Lexan is to polycarbonate as Plexiglas is to acrylic. Polycarbonate is used
for many applications that include extensive sun exposure. They include
eyeglass (spectacle) lenses, airplane windows, bullet proof windows, etc.,
etc. It was first developed as the plastic for astronauts' helmet visors. It
is very tough, but rather soft. Polycarbonate eyeglass lenses are almost
always coated with a few microns of an evaporated silica/carbon polysiloxane
coating to make them almost as scratch resistant as glass. I would think it
would be prohibitively expensive to coat large areas, but perhaps airplane
windows and canopies are coated.
Here are some links to more info.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/parents/polycarb.htm
http://www.cerac.com/pubs/cmn/cmn8_4ex.htm
http://www.chinfoh.com.my/03products/polycarbonate/
http://www.nacecorrosionnetwork.com/archive/9807/0384.html
http://www.sola.com/professional/corner/look_at_lenses.pdf
It doesn't look to me like the problems James had with his Lexan window are
typical of this material.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Carmods@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 1:33 PM
To: tigers@autox.team.net; owner-tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Lexan
Lexan with a scratch resistant coating will stay clear as long as you don't
try to
heat and bend it. The heating loosens the bond of the coating and in a short
time it
will cloud up
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