Experimental investigations and numerical simulations of innovative lightweight glass–plastic-composite panels made of thin glass and PMMA

Abstract

Composites are being increasingly used for industrial applications and combine the advantageous properties of two or more constituents. The urge to reduce material to a minimum and the trend towards lightweight glass structures require further developments in high performance and fully transparent composite structures for the building industry. Novel innovative glass–plastic-composite panels combining a lightweight polymer polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) interlayer core and cover layers of thin glass are currently under development. The panels exhibit high structural load-bearing performance, are durable and fully transparent with a low self-weight. These properties make the composite panels suitable for slender and lightweight glass constructions and reveal new design possibilities for the building industry. However, the material properties of the modified PMMA polymer interlayer core for precise design considerations are lacking. Furthermore, the material behaviour of thermoplastic polymers changes over time, ages due to environmental influences and is temperature-dependent. This significantly affects the composite load-bearing behaviour and defines the limits of application for the composite panels in the building industry. In order to facilitate during the development process and to build a design basis for the composite panels, material model parameters and simulation methods are required. Hence, an extensive test programme was conducted to investigate the material properties of the PMMA interlayer core by means of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis as well as uniaxial tensile and creep tests. The dataset and subsequent implementation into finite element software allowed for realistic simulations of the glass–plastic-composite panels and an extension of experimental results. Numerical simulations were performed with the commercial finite element programme ANSYS Workbench 19.3. Additionally, four-point bending tests were performed on composite test specimens with a different build-up and conventional glass panels to validate the material model and finite element simulations. These investigations and adopted material properties formed the basis for a numerical parametric study to evaluate the influence of stiffness, the load-bearing and lightweight performance in different build-ups. All the results are evaluated in detail and discussed in comparison with conventional monolithic and laminated glass panels. The dataset and material model parameters can be applied to further developments and design of lightweight glass–plastic-composite panels for structural applications in the building industry.

Integrated connections for glass–plastic-composite panels: an experimental study under tensile loading at +23, +40 and +60 °C and different glass build-ups

“…16 and Table 3). This fits to the investigations of the PMMA interlayer core material in (Hänig and Weller 2021). A thicker composite build-up was found to increase the load-bearing performance but not influencing the failure mechanisms of the connection.…”

Study on Performance Test of Polymer Waterproof Material in Laminated Glass Building Materials of Steel Structure

“…The results are shown in Table 6. 104.17 6.25 0.00 104.17 10.42 For data integrity, the bending tests of laminated glass with film thicknesses of 1.14mm, 1.52mm and 2.28mm were added, and the fracture rates were calculated [19] . The fracture trend of PVB waterproof intermediate film thickness from 0 to 2.28mm in the bending test is shown in Figure 10.…”

The Effect of Indium Tin Oxide Nanoparticles (ITO NPs) Incorporated with ZnO NPs based on Structural, Optical and Flexible Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (FDSSCs) Application

“…[4] Nanoparticles are produced in comparatively high quantities using conventional procedures. [5] Due to their distinct characteristics, such particles have generated a lot of curiosity [6]. Nanoscale semiconductor materials [7] have novel properties because the quantum size effect or enormous surface area modifies their physical and chemical characteristics [8,9].…”