At 02:25 PM 4/8/2010, Jed Rothwell wrote:
in March 2009 I replaced the roof on my patio with 20 sheets of
polycarbonate panels from Lowe's:
Tuftex 26" X 12' UltraVinyl Clear Panel, a.k.a. PolyCarb clear,
Item #: 13114, Model #: 1318C
Some of the panels had a manufacturing defect making them
susceptible to damage, presumably from sunlight. Most were fine.
They were strong enough to stand on (although you wouldn't want to)
and still flexible. But ~4 out of 20 were completely shot. They were
so fragile and brittle that falling pinecones punched holes through
them, and you can break the material off with your fingers. I think
they were more yellow than the intact panels.
Anyway, I replaced them all this week.
Lowe's just refunded me $700 for the panels, although they did not
cover the cost of labor and other material such as screws and glue.
I kept some sample material in case Lowe's wants to go after the
manufacturer, Tallant Industries, Fredericksburg, VA.
There are many varieties of polycarbonate, and only certain grades
and manufacturing techniques make clean CR-39 suitable for use as
SSNTDs. All CR-39 will gradually accumulate damage from background
radiation, but what you saw was something else.
There are some interesting articles out there about how to use the
chemical and create a layer of polycarbonate polymer right on a
sample, the applications were biological, for finding the location in
cells of radioisotopes.
Your panels could be ground up and used, perhaps.... But I think the
chemical, which would be pure, would be cheaper....
