Causes, Prevention and Correction of Solar Radiation Induced Temperature Warpage of Polyethylene Silhouette Rifle Range Targets.
Abstract
A large proportion of plastics currently used in Army applications are exposed to the destructive influences of outdoor weather. Heat, cold, rain, sleet, ice, ultraviolet, infrared, ozone, oxygen, and a number of similar elements enter into a broad picture of gradual deterioration. Obvsiously, failure under environmental conditions is a critical factor limiting the use of polymeric compositions as engineering materials. Thus, determinations of these effects in advance is of a distinct economic advantage. The running of a test program over the long outdoor exposure period normally required is an unsupportable burden for many suppliers and an unacceptable delay for the military user. On the other hand, reliance on limited initial material property and appearance specification requirements (Appendix A) entails the risk of failure shown in photographs (figures 1 to 3) and described in detail (Appendix B)t. Other possible causative factors are improper design, material selection and process fabrication techniques. Steps leading to the selection and design of the 80 mii high density (linear) polyethylene to replace kneeling silhouette (E type) fiberboard targets are well documented (Ref 1 to 4) Comments regarding current difficulties have been furnished by both the target developer (Appendix c) and the raw material producer (Appendix D) Considering limitations of time and material furnished for this investigation, the most promising approach, at the time, was to determine material "equivalency" to "Marlex 6ooi" and the current extent of elevated temperature target warpage, its prevention, and corrective action to be applied to existing defective targets
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 22, 1974
- Accession Number
- ADA302101
Entities
People
- Leonard R. Weiner
Organizations
- Picatinny Arsenal