Polycarbonate plastic materials offer a unique balance of helpful features including temperature resistance, impact resistance and optical properties position polycarbonates between commodity plastics and engineering materials.
Polycarbonate is definitely a high quality material. Though it has greater impact-resistance, it has got minimal scratch-resistance and so a hard coating could be applied to polycarbonate eyeglasses lenses as well as polycarbonate exterior vehicle components. The characteristics relating to polycarbonate tend to be along the lines of those of Acrylic PMMA materials, but polycarbonate is going to be stronger, it is usable in a wider temperature range and is a bit more expensive. This plastic polymer is highly transparent to visible light and has better light transmission characteristics than many different types of glass.
Polycarbonate has a glass transition temperature near 150 °C (302 °F), consequently it softens slowly above this point and flows above about 300°C (572 °F). Tools must be held at warm to high temperatures, generally above 80 °C (176 °F) for making strain- and reduced stress products.
Unlike most thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo large changes in basic shape without breaking. Because of this, it can be processed and formed at room temperature using standard sheet metal techniques, such as forming bends on a brake. For even sharp angle bends with a tight radius, no heating is usually necessary. This makes it useful for prototyping applications where transparent or electrically non-conductive parts are necessary, which can't be made from sheet metal. Be aware that PMMA/Plexiglas, that is similar in looks to polycarbonate, but it's brittle and cannot be bent unless it is heated.
The light weight of polycarbonate, in contrast to glass, has led to continuing development of electronic touch screens that replace glass materials with polycarbonate, for use in mobile and portable devices. Such displays include newer e-ink and some LCD screens, though CRT, plasma screen and other LCD technologies generally still require glass for its higher melting temperature and the ability to be etched with finer detail.
Other miscellaneous items created from Polycarbonate include durable, lightweight luggage, MP3/digital audio player cases, computer cases, police riot shields, instrument panels, and blender jars. Many toys and hobby products are made of polycarbonate parts, e.g. fins, gyro mounts, and flybar locks for use with radio-controlled helicopters.
For use in applications subjected to weathering or UV-radiation, a special surface treatment maybe needed. This either can be a coating (e.g. for improved abrasion resistance), or a coextrusion for enhanced weathering resistance.
Bayer Makrolon Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic that begins as a solid material in the form of small pellets. In a manufacturing process called injection molding, the pellets are heated until they melt. The liquid polycarbonate is then rapidly injected into the mold - shaped like the part, compressed under high pressure and cooled to produce a finished product in less than a minute.
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