Thanks for the good thoughts!
Not necessarily, what diameter is a 5 qt pot? Just passing on the math, because 3/8" would be far to thin for a 12" diameter pot.
8-2-13
The question arose regarding the suitability of a 2″ Polycarbonate plate lid on a 20″ pot, so I thought that I would share the answer and the math with you:
In summary, it looks to me like a 2″ Polycarbonate or a 2″ Acrylic plate would work. Stress at the extreme fiber at 450 psi, is a small fraction of the 9,500 psi ultimate tensile strength.
Deflection would only be about .004″, so high cyclic fatigue shouldn’t be an issue.
Calculating stress at the extreme fiber and deflection of Polycarbonate vacuum chamber lids lids
The formulas for calculating stress at the extreme fiber and deflection for a simply supported flat circular plate from the Thirteenth addition of the Machinery Handbook are as follows:
1.0 Assume:
S= 0.39W
t2
d= 0.221 W R2
Et3
Where:
S = Stress at the extreme fiber
T= Ultimate Tensile of Polycarbonate =9,500 psi
p= Pressure in psi = 14.7 psia atmospheric pressure
W= Total load on plate= p X area = 4618 lbs
t= Plate thickness= 2″
d= Deflection
R= Radius of plate= 1/2Diameter = 10″
E= Modulus of elasticity = 375,000 psi
D= Diameter of pot= 20″
Mechanical properties taken from:
http://www.boedeker.com/polyc_p.htm
2.0 Therefore:
d= 0.221 X 4618 lbs X 100 = .034″ deflection on a 2″ plate
375,000 psi X 8
s= 0.39 X 4618 lbs = 450 psi