The effect of natural outdoor exposure environment on the strength of tempered glass panel
Kajian ini dilakukan untuk menentukan kekuatan panel kaca kesan daripada pendedahan kepada alam sekitar. Kaca terbaja telah dipilih sebagai bahan kajian. Empat (4) set sampel kaca (D0, D40, D80 dan D120) telah disediakan untuk pendedahan langsung kepada alam sekitar. Empat (4) set sampel kaca didedahkan kepada alam sekitar selama 0 hari, 40 hari, 80 hari dan 120 hari masing-masing. Sejumlah tiga jenis ujian telah dilakukan pada sampel kaca. Ujian yang dilakukan termasuk pemerhatian mikroskopik, ujian lenturan empat mata dan ujian mampatan. Berdasarkan pemerhatian mikroskopik, ciri-ciri permukaan pada permukaan kaca terbaja telah ditentukan. Kecacatan permukaan yang diperhatikan termasuk calar permukaan, buih dan debu. Jumlah calar permukaan untuk sampel D0, D40, D80 dan D120 ialah 1, 4, 9 dan 10 masing-masing. Seterusnya, ujian lenturan empat titik telah digunakan untuk menentukan kekuatan kaca terbaja.. Kekuatan lenturan dan kekuatan baki dikira berdasarkan data ujian .Hasilnya, ia menunjukkan bahawa kekuatan lenturan dan kekuatan sisa panel kaca akan menurun apabila tempoh pendedahan kepada alam sekitar dipanjangkan. Kemudian, ujian mampatan dilakukan pada serpihan kaca. 10 sampel serpihan kaca dari setiap sampel kaca terbaja telah digunakan untuk menjalankan ujian ini. Berdasarkan hasil penyiasatan , ia menunjukkan bahawa kekuatan mampatan serpihan kaca akan mengalami pengurangan disebabkan oleh pendedahan kepada alam sekitar. Dari hasil kajian ini,didapati bahawa pendedahkan kepada alam sekitar akan membawa kesan negative kepada kekuatan gelas terbaja. Oleh itu, faktor alam sekitar perlu dipertimbangkan dalam reka bentuk kaca struktur yang akan terdedah luar.
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This study was done to determine the effect of natural outdoor exposure condition on the strength of glass panel. Tempered glass was chosen as the glass material to be used for the test. Four (4) sets of sample (D0, D40, D80 and D120) were prepared for direct exposure to the environment. These four (4) sets of sample were exposed to the environment for 0 day, 40 days, 80 days and 120 days respectively. A total of three tests were conducted on the tempered glass samples. They are microscopic observation, four point bending test and compression test. Based on microscopic observation, the surface characteristic on the tempered glass was determined. The surface defects observed including surface scratches, bubbles and dust. The amount of surface scratches for sample D0, D40, D80 and D120 are 1, 4, 9 and 10, respectively. Next, the tempered glass specimens were tested by four point bending test. The bending strength and residual strength were calculated based on the experimental data. From the results, it shows that the bending strength and residual strength of the glass panel reduced as the duration of exposure to the environment increased. Then, compression test was carried out on the glass fragments after the destructive test by four point bending test. 10 glass fragment samples from each sample were used to carry out the test. Based on the graph plotted, it shows a trend where the compression strength decreased as the duration of direct exposure to the environment increased. From the results obtained, it shows that the tempered glass material tends to undergo deterioration in strength as a result of weathering process. Hence, the environmental behaviour should be taken into consideration when it comes to the design of structural glass which will be exposed outdoor.
