Take a close look at all the "glass" in your newer-model auto. Then look again more closely: at least half of it probably is not glass at all -- it's acrylic, a form of plastic.
In the last 30 years or so automobile manufacturers have taken a hard look at vehicle lights improvements as a way to improve vehicle safety and improve gas mileage. The key reason why? More than 60 Per cent of all traffic accidents are caused by poorly-lit conditions, particularly at night.
As plastic materials produced by injection molding became more and more adjustable to a variety of industrial uses, automakers have continued to replace glass headlights with plastic material ones, enabling them to reduce weight with no negative outcomes on how well they light up the road. And unlike glass, the brand new plastic lenses are less likely to break from flying road particles. In fact, one research study found that 60% of the glass lenses broke in a "headlight-to-headlight" competition with acrylic lenses, that have been mounted side-by-side with them on the same vehicles. By contrast, none of the acrylic lenses experienced any major problems. Indeed, polycarbonate acrylic, which has 200 times the impact energy of glass, is applied as bullet-resistant coatings in several applications.
The first plastic-type headlights were constructed by General Electric in 1979. Referred to as an "all-plastic sealed ray unit," the newest headlights weighed below 33% of the existing all-glass front lights and were shatter-proof.
And unlike glass headlights, plastic headlights can be injection molded into an endless variety of styles, giving auto creative designers more creative independence. An LED headlamp developed by Volkswagen and auto component company Hella includes 7 honeycombed plastic lenses -- a design which wouldn't have been possible without the flexibility of plastic. And a bi-xenon Saab headlight made a clear plastic material lens cover definitely necessary. Saab designers specifically cited acrylic's ability to withstand stone chips and breakage, in addition to being lighter.
Until now, we've been talking only about incandescent headlights. The introduction of LED and Xenon headlight technology has also encouraged automakers to specify plastic lenses with regard to their flexibility, breakage resistance and low excess weight.
Could glass windshields and windows become the next victims from the plastic revolution? In many ways, the trend has already begun: today's windshields already have a thin layer of plastic sandwiched involving two sheets of glass. The result is a windshield which is more robust and lighter. Plastic-type laminate windshields can also be safer, because they do not shatter and can keep occupants inside the vehicle in the event of an accident as opposed to being ejected.
Lastly, all-acrylic windshields are already getting tested in China. It seems the future of gass windows in cars has been shattered!
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