Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Acrylic View Ports vs. long-wave UV-Light

[Jon Wallace <jonw@psubs.org>]

Jens,

A couple of points regarding your original question.  I haven't been 
able to find any documentation suggesting that UV is an issue with 
acrylic.  In fact, acrylic can be manufactured to absorb UV and prevent 
transmission through it 
(http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Plastics_Library/UV-Ultra-Violet-Filtering-Plexiglass).  
This is not just a layer simply applied to the outside surface, but 
built into the acrylic material throughout.

On page 48 of Stachiw's Handbook of Acrylics, section 2.7, second 
paragraph, he states: "<acrylic> is virtually unsurpassed in its 
resistance to outdoor weathering.  This property, coupled with color 
retention, accounts for acrylic's dominance in the outdoor sign market.  
Signs of acrylic are commonly guaranteed to be weather resistant for 
more than 15 years."  While not a definitive statement, this would 
certainly lead one to believe that UV effect on acrylic is not a major 
issue.  Acrylic is a common replacement for safety glass in house doors 
and windows and survive years in the suns UV rays.  All anecdotal of 
course, however in the absence of a definitive statement to the contrary 
my guess is that the amount of indirect UV energy from a 30ma UV led is 
not going to be an issue for the thickness of acrylic that are going to 
be in place on a small submarine.

Jon





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