- #1
Pat Trainor
- 4
- 1
Experts,
I'm in need of a balloon to hold an RF antenna aloft, and that can have a light (LED) in it. For cost & safety, it appears Helium is the choice. But everything I'm reading says that He atoms are so tiny they pass (eventually) through traditional balloon materials quickly. There is a cheap mylar-metal (aluminum?) material used in cheap party balloons, but I need something a bit more rugged.
Without consideration for the weight of the enclosing material, I'll be using a balloon at about 3' to 5' diameter, but the interior really needs to be lit. So the need is materials that are transparent/translucent and yet able to contain He for a relatively long period. I'm talking 72 hours or so with really little loss-much better than your party balloons do...
Hoping that this is a good generic forum to ask, are there materials I can make a spherical balloon from as-is, or perhaps some combination, or layers?
Thanks!
I'm in need of a balloon to hold an RF antenna aloft, and that can have a light (LED) in it. For cost & safety, it appears Helium is the choice. But everything I'm reading says that He atoms are so tiny they pass (eventually) through traditional balloon materials quickly. There is a cheap mylar-metal (aluminum?) material used in cheap party balloons, but I need something a bit more rugged.
Without consideration for the weight of the enclosing material, I'll be using a balloon at about 3' to 5' diameter, but the interior really needs to be lit. So the need is materials that are transparent/translucent and yet able to contain He for a relatively long period. I'm talking 72 hours or so with really little loss-much better than your party balloons do...
Hoping that this is a good generic forum to ask, are there materials I can make a spherical balloon from as-is, or perhaps some combination, or layers?
Thanks!