THE USE OF NEW MATERIALS FOR ROADSIDE SAFETY HARDWARE

NEW MATERIALS ARE BEING DEVELOPED EVERYDAY AND ARE REVOLUTIONIZING PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES AT AN ASTOUNDING RATE. IN RECENT YEARS, THE ROADSIDE SAFETY APPURTENANCE FIELD HAS BEEN AFFECTED AS WELL, AS NEW MATERIALS HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO PRODUCE IMPROVED DESIGNS IN A VARIETY OF SITUATIONS. IN RECENT YEARS PLASTICS, CERAMICS, HIGH STRENGTH FIBERS AND COMPOSITES HAVE BECOME MORE WIDELY USED IN INDUSTRY AND THEIR COSTS HAVE DROPPED DRAMATICALLY. THESE MATERIALS POSSESS PROPERTIES NOT AVAILABLE IN THE TRADITIONAL MATERIALS AND OFFER SOLUTIONS TO MANY PROBLEMS IN THE HIGHWAY SAFETY FIELD WHICH WILL PRODUCE SAFER, MORE DURABLE AND LOWER MAINTENANCE DEVICES. MANY ADVANTAGEOUS APPLICATIONS FOR NEW MATERIALS AWAIT DEVELOPMENT. THE PRIMEOBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PHASE I EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP AND ANALYZE CONCEPTS FOR ROADSIDE SAFETY HARDWARE WHICH UTILIZE THE ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY NEW MATERIALS. THIS WORK WILL START WITH THE COMPLETE EVALUATION OF THE FUNCTIONAL PARAMETERS OF ROADSIDE SAFETY HARDWARE. THE CURRENT LITERATURE REGARDING MATERIALS AVAILABLE ON THE MARKET WILL BE EXTENSIVELY REVIEWED TO DETERMINE MATERIALS WITH POSSIBLEAPPLICATION. MATERIALS WILL BE APPLIED TO THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF HARDWARE NEEDS TO DETERMINE MATCHES. THE APPROACH USES A LOGICAL DATABASE ANALYSIS FOR DEVELOPING NEWAPPLICATIONS. IT ALSO PRESENTS SEVERAL NEW CONCEPTS FOR SAFETY APPURTENANCES USING NEW MATERIAL AND FABRICATION PROCESSES.