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American Made High Quality Polycarbonate and Acrylic Sheet Materials

American Made High Quality Polycarbonate and Acrylic Sheet Materials

by | Aug 9, 2024 | Choosing A Plastic Material, High Performance Plastics, Made In The USA

Polycarbonate and Acrylic: Clear Plastics with Clear Differences

Tuffak® Polycarbonate and Optix® Acrylic (PMMA) are two very similar looking plastics. Both are often bought as transparent sheets with similar smooth glossy surfaces, and are often used as tougher and more impact resistant alternatives for glass in industrial and consumer applications. These two materials can be found in windows, viewing panels, protective barriers, eye-wear, display cabinets, and similar applications. However, polycarbonate and acrylic actually have very different physical properties and resulting applications. 

Polycarbonate: Industrial Grade Impact Resistancepolycarbonate-sheet-riot-shields, protection for police officers

Tuffak® Polycarbonate (manufactured by Plaskolite) is an amorphous thermoplastic material, meaning it has a low degree of crystallinity and a more random polymer chemical structure. This gives the plastic an interesting combination of physical and optical properties, such as transparency comparable to silicate glass and an exceptionally high impact and chemical resistance. 

Its exceptional impact resistance has made this particular material popular for manufacturing in  sheet form, a lot like sheet metal. It can be rolled, pressed, heated, and formed without cracking or breaking. Polycarbonate can be fabricated quickly and relatively inexpensively into shapes not possible with glass thanks to its chemical structure. 

Polycarbonate is commonly used in protective applications, such as barriers and bullet-proof windows, ceiling panels, displays, and enclosures. Despite its impact resistance, polycarbonate tends to scratch easily, so it is not well-suited to displays and applications that require high aesthetics. 

OPTIX® Acrylic (PMMA): Durability on DisplayCast and Extruded Clear and Colored Acrylic sheets and rods

Acrylic, short for poly-methyl-methacrylate, (PMMA) can come in many forms, including a sheet material typically referred to as acrylic glass. Like polycarbonate, acrylic is an amorphous thermoplastic, though it features much better transparency. Tough and strong, yet acrylic impact resistance is not as high as that of polycarbonate. 

Optix® Acrylic (manufactured by Plaskolite) offers a higher tensile strength and UV resistance than polycarbonate, as well as much better optical characteristics. Acrylic is also easy to clean and maintain, and is generally pretty easy to fabricate, so long as it’s masked for protection during handling. This, combined with being less expensive has made acrylic common in display and consumer applications. 

There are many different applications for acrylic thanks to these properties, ranging from LEDs to displays to even consumer windows. Optix® Acrylic sheet can be found in shop displays and enclosures, ceiling skylights, media discs, and fiber optics, as the material is a lightweight and tougher alternative to glass. 

Looking for a trusted supplier of Tuffak® Polycarbonate, OPTIX® PMMA, and other Performance Plastic materials?

Industrial Plastic Supply, Inc. is one of the largest and most experienced plastic suppliers in the world, with a vast inventory of premium Plaskolite Acrylic and Polycarbonate sheets. Our experienced and certified customer service team are available to assist you. Head over to our website to explore all of the materials that we carry and contact us today with any questions you may have, click here.

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate

by | Apr 4, 2022 | Fire Retardant Plastics, Machinable Plastic, Made In The USA, Performance Plastic

clear-plastic-grades-variety

Polycarbonate

Superior Impact Stength

High Impact Polycarbonate Sheet and Rod

Polycarbonate sheet material is used frequently for shields, guards, and containment barriers.

It can be cold or heat bent to most configurations. A popular material manufactured by several companies: Lexan® by SABIC, Tuffak® by Plaskolite (formerly Makrolon® by Covestro), Zelux® by Westlake, Unicar® by Nytef Div of Polymer, Ensicar® by Ensinger, Cyrolon®, Polygal®, Plazit®, Tuffak® GP, Paltuf®, Texin®.

Today, there are numerous versions of these Polycarbonate resins, produced by a dozen different resin manufacturers; however Lexan® and Makrolon® still lead the field.

In addition to the large number of resin manufacturers, there are also dozens of extruders that can produce the Polycarbonate in Sheet or rod.

The leaders are Tuffak Plaskolite (formerly Covestro), SABIC Lexan and Plazit Polygal. All three have extrusion equipment in the USA and produce high clarity and high quality Polycarbonate sheet.

Some of the leaders in the Thick Plate and Rod extrusion are Ensinger, Westlake, Rochling, Polymer and Gehr Plastics.

polycarbonate-sheet-riot-shields, protection for police officers

Other Plastic Materials

Why you should use Polycarbonate:

Polycarbonate sheet is a common material for a variety of glazing applications, impact resistant shields and formed parts. Polycarbonate Sheet and Rod are generally produced from plastic resin produced by two main plastic resin manufacturers:

1) Plaskolite (formerly Covestro Plastic) produce Tuffak® Polycarbonate (formerly Makrolon®) sheets as well as a full line of Acrylic Sheet and Acrylic Mirror materials.

2) SABIC (Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation) Plastic, producing a wide range of plastic resins including: Lexan® Polycarbonate, Cycolac®, ABS, Noryl®- Poly Phenylene Oxide (PPO), Ultem® 1000 and Ultem® 2300 PEI resins.

The general purpose Polycarbonate resins are about the same as they were when they were first invented. The research on this resin started in 1898, but was first perfected by Bayer in Germany and was patented and registered in 1955. Amazingly, one week after the first invention by Bayer, Daniel Fox at General Electric in New York, independently synthesized a branched Polycarbonate resin.

Both companies filed for US Patents in 1955, and agreed that the company lacking priority would be granted a license to the technology. The patent was resolved in Bayer’s favor and Bayer began commercial production under the trade name Makrolon® in 1958.

GE Plastics began production under the Lexan® trade in 1960.

Polycarbonate is ITAR compliant, and Polycarbonate is RoHS compliant. 

Machined Polycarbonate Block made from Zelux M

 

Tuffak® (formerly Makrolon® GP) – General Purpose Polycarbonate Sheet

~ UV Stable and Excellent for high impact and glazing applications

Tuffak® (formerly Makrolon® GP-V) – UL rated General Purpose Polycarbonate Sheet

~ UV Stabilized and UL 94 V-2 at .060” thickness, UL 94 V-0 at .220” thickness

Tuffak® (formerly Makrolon® FI) – UL rated Polycarbonate Sheet (Flame Inhibiting)

~ High flame resistance – UL 94 V-0 at .060” thickness and UL 94 5VA at .118” thickness

~ FAR 25.853 Part 1, a (i) – 60 sec and Part 1, a (ii) – 12 sec – PASS @0.060” – 0.125”

Tuffak® (formerly Makrolon® AR) – Abrasion Resistant Polycarbonate Sheet

~ Added proprietary hard coating for higher abrasion resistance

Plazit Polygal:

Monogal®

~ UV Stable and Excellent for high impact and glazing applications

Monogal-F®

~ High flame resistance – UL 94 V-0 at .080” thickness

~ FAR 25.85 Part 1, a (i) – 60 sec and Part 1, a (ii) – 12 sec – PASS @0.080” – 0.236”

Materials Available As:

Extruded Sheet:

.030″ – .500″ in 48″ X 96″ Clear Masked General Purpose Sheets
Molded Sheet or Plate:

.500″ – 4.0″ Thick Natural (Transparent) and Optical Grade up to 48″ X 96″

Film:

.010″ –.040″ in 24″ X 48″

Rod:

.125″ – 12.0″ Diameter – Natural (Machine Grade – Non Pigmented) in 96″ Lengths.
Black is Available in some sheet and rod sizes as a Standard:

Contact For Details

Tube:

.250″ ID – 4.0″ ID in 96″ Lengths (variety of wall thickness based on diameter)

Special Formulations:

Medical Grade, Conductive, Static Dissipative, Glass Filled, Custom Sizes, Formulations, Profiles or Colors

Typical Resin Properties for Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate Data Sheet

Polycarb Glass Filled Data Sheet

Polycarb SDS

Polycarb Glass Filled SDS

These properties are for evaluation purposes only. This information is not to be construed as a warranty, guarantee or assurance that you may achieve the same results. Materials made from different resin types, manufacturing techniques and manufacturers will react differently. The information should be used to compare against other materials only, and each user should make his own tests to determine suitability. No warranty as to this materials suitability are either expressed nor implied.

Other Plastic Materials