Optically Transparent Nanoporous Glasspolymer Composites
Abstract
Proper design of lightweight laminated composite armor relies on the engineer's ability to specify the acoustic impedance of each layer. In conventional, opaque laminated armor systems, stress waves can be efficiently transmitted throughout the structure with a gradual variation of the acoustic impedance from one layer to the next. In transparent systems, however, the engineer can only choose between monolithic glass, ceramic, or polymer systems, resulting in a large acoustic impedance jump between polymer and ceramic layers. In this work we manufacture a novel transparent polymer-glass composite to be used as an intermediate impedance material. This transparent nanocomposite is created by infiltrating nanoporous glass (Vycor, Corning Inc.) with different polymers. The Vycor pores (4-6 nm) are much smaller than the wavelength of light, thus refractive index matching with the polymer is not necessary for transparency.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA481604
Entities
People
- D. J. O'brien
- P. J. Patel
- S. H. Mcknight
- T. F. Juliano
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory