Damage survey of a vehicle windshield exposed to sandblasting in Sahara

Normal impact of sand particles with solar panel glass surfaces

“…These plastic impressions are in the form of microscale indentation sites similar to indents left by Vickers micro-hardness tests. This is shown clearly in the magnified insets and is also in line with the findings in the literature [5,10,39] for small particles with sharp edges at relatively low impact speeds which is the case for sand impacts commonly seen in desert area of Middle East/North Africa and the US.…”

“…Besides plastic impressions, it is expected that the impact of small sand particles leads to crumbling and ploughing type of damage without cracking [10]. Further examination of Fig.…”

“…The damage mode is a function of sand particle size, particle corner radius (shape) and particle velocity [10,39]. SEM images of the samples after sandblasting are demonstrated in Fig.…”

“…6 and if only normal impact is considered, one can conclude that the predominant modes of damage for the investigated impact conditions are plastic impressions, similar to Vickers-like indentation. In fact, previous reports have addressed the relevance between Vickers-like indentation and sand impact [5,10,39]. The damage mode is a function of sand particle size, particle corner radius (shape) and particle velocity.…”

“…It has been shown that not only does sand impact affect the mechanical resistance of the surface and its durability, but it can also lead to optical transmission loss via formation of local deformations and cracks that reduce light transmittance [5]. Two damage mechanisms are a result of sand impact: ductile yielding and brittle cracking, which are usually controlled by particle size and shape [5,10,11]. Ductile yielding leaves plastic impression while brittle fracture causes micro cracks and subsequent propagation of lateral cracks.…”