Aircraft pilots rely on road markings in a similar way to car drivers, but in some ways even more critically. Particularly in bad weather or poorly lit environments, it is difficult for pilots to see continuous road markings clearly, even with the aid of navigation aids. In this case, pilots often find themselves in a confusing environment, increasing the risk of flight. The use of highly reflective glass beads makes road markings clearly visible in all lighting conditions, improving the pilot’s ability to react and further enhancing flight safety.
Technical Data:
| Main Chemical | SiO2, Ti2O, BaO |
| Hardness | Mohs:6-7 HRC:46 |
| Specific Gravity | 4.2±0.1 g/cm3 |
| Refractive Index(RI) | Nd ≥1.90 |
| Roundness | ≥80.0% |
| retro-reflective values | ≥1000mcd/m2 |
| Standard | FS TTB-1325D |
| Available | 300-850um |
The characteristics of highly reflective glass beads for airport markings are as follows:
High reflectivity: the reflectivity is as high as 1.9-1.93, which is much higher than that of ordinary glass beads for road marking, and significantly improves the visible distance of reflection.
High brightness: The return brightness coefficient is more than 1000mcd/m², which can maintain high brightness even in low light conditions, ensuring that the markings are clearly visible.
Energy saving and environmental protection: As a passive reflective material, glass beads do not consume other energy, relying solely on reflected light to work, in line with the modern concept of green energy saving.
Directional reflection: the light reflected from the glass beads will only remind the pilot to pay attention to the aircraft, other directions cannot be detected, avoiding unnecessary distraction.
Excellent adhesion: after special surface treatment technology, the highly reflective glass beads have good adhesion to all kinds of coatings and are not easy to fall off, ensuring the durability of the marking.
Chemical and mechanical stability: good chemical stability and mechanical properties, so that the high reflective glass beads can maintain its performance in a variety of harsh environments, prolonging the service life.
Convenient construction: it is suitable for various marking coatings and equipment, convenient construction, reducing the construction difficulty and cost.
Compared with ordinary glass beads for road marking, high reflective glass beads for airports belong to optical grade material, and its most remarkable feature is the extremely high reflectivity, which reaches 1.9-1.93, while the reflectivity of ordinary glass beads for road marking usually only reaches about 1.5. This significant improvement means that highly reflective glass beads are able to reflect light back to the light source in a much more concentrated manner, thus greatly increasing the visible distance of the reflection. What this means for pilots is that they can more easily see the guide lines during an aircraft landing, thus improving flight safety.
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