the following post will explain why Herciv has no idea what he is talking about regarding aircraft canopies and why his entire argument is ignorant, flawed and invented:
herciv posted a link to a science site that used
commercial grade PMMA and not aviation or military grade PMMA. Herciv failed to understand that commercial grade PMMA is not used in US military grade canopies and that there are different grades and levels of PMMA:
this is from herciv's link above:
The material used in this study was standard-grade MD001 commercial poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with mass density of 1.19 g/cm3 at room temperature.
The US standard for Aviation is as follows:
Aircraft Grade Acrylic - Mil-P-5425 Sheet |
Mil-P-5425 Sheet (aka Heat-resistant Acrylite GMS and Polycast Poly II) is certified to meet or exceed Military Specification MIL-P-5425E. The sheet is preshrunk and undergoes an optical inspection which is among the most critical in the industry. Its optical qualities make it applicable to aviation windshields, wingtip lenses, instrument panels, and dust-cover applications as well as other aerospace transparent enclosures in monolithic or laminated form.
Mil-P-5425 is our most versatile material for aircraft glazing. Its applications span the entire spectrum of the marketplace, ranging from wing-tip lenses to edge-lit panels. |
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"Mil-P-5425" is the designation for the US military standard as seen in this link:
Mil-P-5425D is from 1967 but the latest spec 5425E is from 1998 and specifies:
MIL-PRF-5425E, PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION: PLASTIC SHEET, ACRYLIC,
HEAT RESISTANT (05 OCT 1998) [SUPERSEDING MIL-P-5425D]., This specification covers optical quality, transparent, heat-resistant, cast acrylic plastic sheet. The requirements are for flat sheet material that has not been formed.
The F-35 Canopy is a composite made of multiple layers including proprietary materials and composites. This is a patent from PPG industries which worked on F-35 and F-22 canopies:
A coated transparency including an electrically conductive multilayer stack is disclosed. The electrically conductive multilayer stack includes a first metal oxide layer including aluminum doped zinc (AZO), a metal layer including gold, and a second metal oxide layer including AZO. The...
patents.google.com
One of the more complex processes is that for the F-35 canopy fabricated by GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems. The acrylic and other special materials-based shell is loaded into a forming tool in an oven heated to 200F where the canopy forms over a span of approximately 3 days. During that time, a control system automatically adjusts clamps to control the forming process and ensure the shape remains uniform
The interlayer materials include polyurethane, silicone, and other proprietary materials with tailored optical properties that are used to bond the core plies together [1]. The interlayer materials can provide additional safety features such as bird-impact resistance, pressure “failsafe” capability, and anti-ice/anti-fog systems ...
2.2.2 Coatings
Interior and/or exterior coatings may be applied to help protect transparencies and aircrews from various operational or environment threats, and they provide improved low-observable performance, solar-heat reduction, laser protection, and/or electromagnetic shielding. Such technologies are designed to be compatible with night vision systems and other optical requirements.
On some aircraft, the protective coating may have an obvious tint. A similar tinting may perform several different functions depending on the aircraft on which it is applied. For example, the gold coating on EA-6B canopies, depicted in Figure 5, protects the crew from the radiation emitted by their own jamming pods. Similar coatings on aircraft like the F-16 and F-22 may be used to prevent radiation from threat radar systems being reflecting off the interior cockpit structure to help reduce the aircraft radar cross-section
The F-35 Canopy is not just PMMA, and any PMMA fin the canopy will have to be and compliant with Mil P 5425E
Mil-P-5425 Sheet (aka H
eat-resistant Acrylite GMS and Polycast Poly II) is certified to meet or exceed Military Specification MIL-P-5425E
in short any PMMA in the F-35 or any other American fighter Canopy is a much more expensive and specialized level specfically tailored for the rigors of a tactical fighter (to include fast and low)
This brings us to the second part of herciv's inventions. he needed a way to make the F-35 canopy uniquely vulnerable when maneuvering or moving fast and low:
yes the F-35 can't fly too fast or too low, or the PMMA the F-35 does not use at all could heat up.
but herciv knows that Rafale could suffer the same problem... so he invented the notion that the F-35s single piece canopy would be more susceptible to heat distortion (somehow) compared to the Rafale 2 piece canopy which he assures us is using substandard commercial grade only PMMA materials and would not meet 1967 specifications in the United States:
So Herciv is telling us that the Rafale uses substandard commercial grade PMMA and the French designers compensated for the below industry standard by making a two part canopy and the front part is more easily and cheaply replaced. Never mind that no aviation safety board or regulatory branch would ever approve a military grade fighter using the PMMA that Herciv has told us the Rafale uses, and if the Rafale does indeed use this PMMA the canopy is in danger of not only distortion, but the pilot is in an extremely dangerous situation regarding any canopy strikes of any type.
No wonder the Rafale is suffering compared to the F-35, Rafale windshield is designed to use the kind of commercial grade PMMA that we would find on a motorscooter
Herciv's entire thesis of F-35 canopy distortion is based on a PMMA that the F-35 does not use at all, and from there he told us that the F-35 canopy would distort, having no idea what the F-35 Canopy is actually made of.
Herciv assigned a characteristic the F-35 does not possess, and the proceeded to tell us how the imagined problem would affect the F-35 in operation he imagined the Rafale would not suffer the same problems because the canopy is 2 pieces -- why? no idea, he made it up so the Rafale could beat the F-35 in a problem he also invented.
its a stunning revelation that the Rafale compensates for substandard canopy material with a 2 part design that would degrade much faster than any other peer competitors along with putting the crew at risk.
in short Herciv failed to understand that not all PMMAs are created equal, he never bothered to check and see what the F-35 canopy is actually made of, told us that the Rafale uses substandard canopy materials but is helped by a 2 part canopy that is more easily and cheaply replaced, and told us that the PMMA that the F-35 does not use would have operational consequences that he also invented
herciv doesn't understand much about airplanes or aviation, and it never occurred to him that the same PMMA used on a cheap window would not be the same type used for a super sonic fighter canopy.