Sheffield Plastics Polycarbonate Sheets offer high impact strength
Polycarbonate materials give you a great blend of helpful features which include temp resistance, impact resistance and optical properties position polycarbonates between commodity plastics and engineering materials.
Polycarbonate is a very sturdy material. Though it offers higher impact-resistance, it has low scratch-resistance and thus a hard coating is often applied to polycarbonate eyewear and polycarbonate exterior automotive components. The characteristics relating to polycarbonate tend to be similar to that of those of Acrylic PMMA materials, and yet polycarbonate is definitely 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 several types of glass.
Polycarbonate carries a glass transition temperature of around 150 °C (302 °F), so it softens slowly above this point and flows above about 300°C (572 °F). Tools must be held at higher temperatures, generally above 80 °C (176 °F) to produce strain- and stress-free products.
Unlike almost all other thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo dramatic shape changes without breaking. As a result, it may be processed and formed at room temperature using sheet metal techniques, such as forming bends on a brake. For even sharp angle bends with a tight radius, no heating is generally necessary. This makes it useful for prototyping applications where transparent or electrically non-conductive parts are required, which can not be created from sheet metal. Keep in mind that PMMA/Plexiglas, that is similar in appearance 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 development of electronic touch screens that replace the traditional glass with polycarbonate, for use in mobile and portable devices. Such displays include newer e-ink and many LCD screens, though CRT, plasma screen and other LCD technologies generally still require glass for its higher melting temperature and its ability to be etched in finer detail.
Other types of items made out of Polycarbonate include durable, lightweight luggage, MP3/digital audio player cases, computer cases, police riot shields, instrument panels, and common style blender jars. Many toys and hobby items are produced from polycarbonate parts, e.g. fins, gyro mounts, and flybar locks for use with radio-controlled helicopters.
For use in applications exposed to weathering or UV-radiation, a special surface treatment could be needed. This can be a coating (e.g. for improved abrasion resistance), or perhaps the coextrusion for enhanced weathering resistance.
Bayer Makrolon Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic that at the beginning, starts as a solid plastic material in the form of small pellets. In a manufacturing process called injection molding, this pellet material is heated until they melt. The melted liquid polycarbonate is then rapidly pushed into a mold, compressed under high pressure and cooled to produce a finished product in a matter of minutes.
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