8
$\begingroup$

Anti-reflective coatings are used in many applications to reduce glare and prevent double images. Double images in particular are a concern because of the several layers involved in a cockpit window. More high-tech optical coatings can also have other desirable properties such as reducing UV and IR light transmission. There is some evidence of them being used in industry, like this patent for a windscreen. On a related note, cockpit instruments have a limit for maximum reflectivity of their glass/plastic surface and sometimes use anti-reflective coatings.

I started thinking about this because of a recent question on why windscreens aren't more reflective.

However, I can't find many examples of anti-reflective coatings (possibly because of the harsh environmental conditions?). UV and IR protection seem to be mostly through tinting instead of coating.

Do any production aircraft use anti-reflective or other coatings? Why or why not?

$\endgroup$
7

1 Answer 1

0
$\begingroup$

An antireflective coating for the F/A-18's canopy was successfully tested sometime in the 1990s; no word on whether it made it into production, though.

Wikipedia claims that "[n]early all glass windows in large aircraft have an anti-reflective coating", but provides no source for this assertion.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .