Glass lined acrylic tank

[i0rion]

Has anyone heard of or considered laminating a layer of glass to the inside of an acrylic tank? Large commercial tanks are made with multiple layers of acrylic with a lamination that is virtually invisible. It could provide better scratch resistance while enjoying the other properties of acrylic. Any ideas?

[Borge]

Glass is still glass, ie, you would need to bend the light once to enter the glass and once more to enter the acrylic. Acrylic on the other hand is at the same wavelenght as water, isn't it?

[aninjaatemyshoe]

I imagine it is much easier to laminate acrylic with acrylic without leaving a visible lamination than it is to do so with acrylic and glass. They probably simply fuse the layers with something similar to weld-on. As far as fusing glass to acrylic, I don't know what you'd use. Even if you could find something that works well, there is the issue of how the two materials react differently to strain. Glass and acrylic have very different mechanical properties. On most acrylic tanks, the sides bend fairly noticeably. This is fine for acrylic (assuming that it is properly constructed and of a sufficient thickness) as acrylic has a fairly high yield strain. Glass, on the other hand, is fairly brittle and can break with relatively little strain. I suppose you could combine rather thick acrylic with thin glass, it would take some experimenting to get it right.

[Untamed12]

I think this idea has some merit. Thick acrylic would provide the structural support, while the glass interior protects against scratching.

I would imagine that pressing the glass up against the acrylic might cause an optical effect called "newtons rings". I've seen glass tanks build of two pieces of glass laminated together and they don't have that effect though...

[Poorcollegereef]

just to flip it around, why not have a "thinner" glass tank wrapped on the outside with acrylic... I know this is really the same thing, but I think forming acrylic to glass would be easier than glass to acrylic.


Finally, once we make tanks out of industrial synthetic diamond sheets, we will finally solve the scratching problem

[Borge]

hell, we just see rainbow facets 'n no fish

[silverwolf72]

Ok I have a question, Why is it that major aquarium facilities aren't all scratched up, you know they have to scrub that stuff like crazy.

[Borge]

Theyre paid to dust it once a day, you do that at home 'n you see

[Pauper]

It would seem a thin layer of glass inside an acrylic tank would have the best properties if it can be accomplished. Acrylic is stronger and lighter so you want less glass. You'd want glass on the inside since it's more scratch resistant is easier to keep clean. The plastic scrapers for acrylic wear out quickly and if you don't maintain the viewing sides, it's quite a bit of work to clean after the algae builds up.

[virginiadiver69]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12277097#post12277097 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by i0rion
It could provide better scratch resistance while enjoying the other properties of acrylic. Any ideas?

If the "other properties" include superior visibility it wouldn't be worth it. I understand that acrylic is even clearer than low iron glass. No matter what...you would be looking through the glass. It would in essence become a lowest common denominator. You might as well just use a low iron glass tank and forget the acrylic altogether if scratch resistance is your main concern.

[minimasterflash]

It would have to be laminated in sheets as the glass-air-plastic would create serious distorsion of the light. I still believe that laminating it together might still result in some wierd refraction.

The second issue is construction.. do you use silicone on the glass, or chem bond the acrylic? It might work to make the tank acrylic with glass inserts.

My first suggestion is to get some glass and some acrylic and bond it to see what the light transmission properties are.

[Fitchguy]

but acrylic does bow as well, so wouldn't this crack the glass?

[das75]

Neat idea, basically a throw away (if got scratched) liner. Even a liner for glass tanks would be interesting.

Wondering if something like the Mylar security film that's placed on windows if that would work? Apply it then seal the edges with silicone like you do when used on tempered glass. Know the thick stuff (12 mil) we've used has some distortion but maybe the thinner sheets better?

[Justjoe]

Tough to do as you have different thermal expansion coefficients for the different materials (glass, acrylic and bonding agent) and you can get some serious delaminations and hazing.
It has been tried in the past with mixed results.