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Thickness Measurements of Polymer Aircraft Windshields


Inspector measure thickness of aircraft windsheild using a 35Application: Measurement of individual layers and total thickness in multilayer polymer aircraft windshields.

Background: Multilayer plastic construction is commonly employed by the aerospace industry for aircraft windshields, in which two relatively thick layers of acrylic or a similar hard plastic are typically sandwiched around a thinner layer of a soft material such as polyvinyl butyral (PVB) which provides thermal stress relief. The hard plastic layers are typically about 0.4 in. to 0.5 in. (10 to 12.5 mm) thick and the soft inner layer about 0.050 in. (1.25 mm) thick.

Scratches in aircraft windshields are typically removed by polishing during routine maintenance, after which thickness measurement is required to insure that windshield thickness has not been reduced below a specified minimum. Additionally, manufacturers need to measure the soft PVB middle layer to insure that it is within specified thickness.

Equipment: The Model 38 DL PLUS thickness gage with the Multi-Measurement software option is recommended for measurement of individual layers and total part thickness in this application. With this software, the 38DL PLUS gage is capable of using separately programmed setups (including sound velocity, gain, and blanking settings) for each layer being measured to optimize performance. In this test, the gage is normally used with either an M110-RM (5 MHz) or M112-RM (10 MHz) contact transducer.


Typical Procedure: The waveforms below show simultaneous measurement of all three layers of a typical multilayer aircraft windshield using an M110 (5 MHz) contact transducer. The outside layer is measured in Mode 1, to the first negative echo. The thin middle layer is measured in Mode 2, negative peak to positive peak. The bottom layer is also measured in Mode 2, positive to negative. The small echo just to the left of the detected backwall echo in the bottom screen print is not another layer, but rather a second multiple of the backwall echo from the outer layer.

outside polycarbonate layer
outside polycarbonate layer

middle PVB layer
middle PVB layer

bottom polycarbonate layer
bottom polycarbonate layer


As with any ultrasonic thickness measurement, accuracy is dependent on proper sound velocity calibration. Velocity calibration must be performed for each material being measured, on samples of known thickness.

Olympus IMS

Produits utilisés pour cette application

Portable et facile à utiliser, le mesureur d’épaisseur à ultrasons 72DL PLUS™ peut fournir très rapidement des mesures d’épaisseur précises. Compatible avec les sondes monoéléments d’une fréquence allant jusqu’à 125 MHz, cet appareil novateur est parfaitement adapté à la mesure de l’épaisseur des matériaux ultrafins, notamment les peintures multicouches, les revêtements et le plastique. Le logiciel de mesure multicouche peut afficher simultanément l’épaisseur de six couches distinctes.

Le 45MG est un mesureur d’épaisseur à ultrasons de pointe équipé de série de multiples fonctions de mesure et d’options logicielles. Cet outil de mesure d’épaisseur unique est compatible avec notre gamme complète de sondes de mesure d’épaisseur monoéléments et à émission-réception séparées.
Polyvalent, le mesureur d’épaisseur 38DL PLUS peut être combiné à des sondes à émission-réception séparées pour la mesure de l’épaisseur de tuyaux corrodés, ou à une sonde monoélément pour la mesure très précise de l’épaisseur de matériaux minces ou multicouches.
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