Testing and analysis of suitable compounds to design an air-tight dome to withstand high pressure for underwater applications

Fibers and plastics have been the top priority materials that had been used for deep sea explorations, to collect extensive data on the distribution and conservation status of deep-sea benthic species and habitats. In this study, various plastics that can be used to create safe and pressure-withstanding equipment that will be able to observe aquatic life underwater, has been carried out. Underwater, any equipment has to withstand very high pressure at depths underwater starting from around 300 m to 10,000 m. The main aim is to select a suitable lightweight plastic material to build the outer shell of the surveillance equipment that can withstand high pressures at various depths. Plastics such as Polycarbonate, PVC, Acudel 22,000 etc. have been used as materials to design the outer shells. Their ability to withstand pressure is being assessed using parameters namely, von Mises’ damage index (DI), von Mises’ safety factor (SF) and von Mises’ failure index (FI). The dome will be allotted different materials for its outer shell and will be tested under a pressure of 10.2056 MPa at various depths starting from 1000 m considering atmospheric pressure to be 1 atm, seawater density to be 1030 kg/m³ and acceleration due to gravity to be 9.81 m/s², to visualize the distribution of stress over the dome and the deformation factor it provides. The study concludes that among the 10 considered materials, Torlon 4203L and Torlon 5030 show great characteristics to be used for deep-sea applications.