Cast Acrylic Plastic Dome for Undersea Applications
2006
Stachiw, Jerry D.
An acrylic plastic hemispherical dome with a 78-inch outer diameter, 65.25-inch inner diameter and 7-inch-long skirt has been successfully cast, machined, and equipped with a metallic mounting flange. The mounting flange will allow mating of the cast plastic dome to a surface ship hull, where it will serve as an impact-resistant undersea observation chamber that will afford its occupants panoramic vision of subsurface hydrospace. Other potential applications for such cast domes are in deep submergence vehicles, continental shelf ocean bottom habitats, pressurized aquaria, and hyperbaric chambers. This dome is applicable to depths in the 0- to 2,500-foot range providing that the right method is used for attaching the dome to the vehicle or habitat. The mechanical properties of the massive dome casting have been found to be significantly less than the typical properties of flat plates cast solely from acrylic monomer.
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