I need to find a structure material that can be used in high voltage
applications. I tried acrylic glass. But it has two problems: the
strength is not high enough and it got buckled.
Another problem is that it is brittle and crack sensitive. After
several usage, it got crack and fluid started to leak. I wonder what
is the best non-metal material for structure applications?

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 14 Jun 2004 02:41 PDT

Hello Tt1234,
What sort of use would you have for the material that you would
acquire? Since you mentioned fluid, will you use the material as a
holder of electricity-conducting or -producing fluid, like battery
fluid, or will it be used to hold and support electrical structures? I
was thinking ceramic-type material or even wood, but it would be
easier if one knows the specific way you would use the material.

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Clarification of Question by tt1234-ga on 09 Jul 2004 06:03 PDT

Thanks for reply. Real glass is definetly an option. But I wonder
is it easy to machine it? Thanks a lot!

Titanium?

How about Lexan?

Can you give any further info about what the use is?  High voltage and
fluid carrying? Also, what sort of stresses are we talking about?

The strongest non-metallic material that comes to mind is epoxy resin.
It has been used structurally, particularly when used with a composite
filler material.

Without knowing a little more specific detail, it's hard to know what
to recommend. Anyway - these are the keywords I used.

structural epoxy
structural epoxy resin
epoxy structural uses

[Other than that, my reading of sci-fi tells me you should use carbon
nanotubes, but I'm not really sure if they even exist yet.... :) ]

I saw a public television show the other night on the subject of
Extreme Engineering solutions.  In this episode, bridge engineers were
using a woven glass filament sheet that was pressure infused with
epoxy resin...non-metallic, non conducting, flexible, relatively cheap
to manufacture.  Wish I could remember the company that was making
this stuff.  The public television show was on Australian Broadcasting
Corp (ABC) and was produced by either BBC or PBS.

I know you listed acrylic glass, but it cracked. What would be wrong
with real glass? If it's thick enough, I doubt that you'd have any
problems, and it's an excellent insulator.. but once again, it'd be
best to know what your specific application is. What kinds of shocks,
stresses, vibrations etc are we looking at?