Take the transparent swimming pool as an example, acrylic or tempered glass?
From the perspective of safety, the transparent swimming pool must be made of thick acrylic.
First, the impact resistance of acrylic is very strong, which is 100 times that of glass and 16 times that of tempered glass, and the thickness of an acrylic sheet can be more than 600mm, and the safety factor increases exponentially. Swimming pools need to withstand water pressure, dynamic pressure, and wind pressure caused by crowds and waves. This pressure is dynamic and uncontrollable. As a flexible polymer material, acrylic has excellent strength, toughness, and resistance to bending fracture, which is very suitable for this complex stress environment. Tempered glass is relatively brittle, facing a complex pressure environment, coupled with the impact of a series of outdoor environments such as sunlight, climate, and temperature difference, the probability of nickel sulfide crystal expansion increases, which will increase the risk of self-explosion.
Second, the light transmittance of acrylic is very good. The light transmittance of general glass is 82%-89%, and the best ultra-clear glass can only reach 89%. The light transmittance of acrylic is as high as 92%. Nowadays, the optical sights and high-precision optical lenses of many cutting-edge weapons are made of acrylic. When acrylic is used in transparent swimming pools, aquariums, and aquarium projects, the transparent viewing surface has a soft light transmission and very gorgeous visual effects.
Third, acrylic also has good processing performance, can be machined, and can be thermoformed. It can be seamlessly spliced on-site by injecting a special formula stock solution, which can meet the requirements of larger transparent boards and is not affected by transportation and space conditions. The tempered glass cannot be reprocessed, cut, or spliced. The maximum size of the tempered glass of the generic manufacturer can reach 6.8m*2.5m. Because it cannot be seamlessly spliced, it cannot meet the requirements of a larger transparent full board. Only acrylic can be realized. For example, in the infinity transparent swimming pool in Atlantis Sanya, the 26m-long transparent viewing surface is made of two pieces of 13m-long acrylic.
Acrylic has been used in the transparent swimming pool industry for 30 years. The technology is mature and the performance is stable. Large-scale transparent swimming pool projects all over the world are built with thick plate acrylic without exception.
As for the worry about scratches, acrylic is not as wear-resistant as tempered glass, so different materials should be used in the right place.
If acrylic is used to build a transparent plank in the air, the soles of people coming and going will soon scratch the acrylic. Therefore, it is definitely more appropriate to use glass for the transparent plank road in the air. But in the swimming pool, everyone swims in swimsuits and doesn’t bring any sharp instruments. The sharpest nails in the human body can’t scratch the acrylic at all.