clear plastic sheets

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hedgerowpete
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2019 9:18 pm

clear plastic sheets

Post by hedgerowpete »

i know them under a lot of different names,
plexiglas, polycarbonate, perspex and loads of others.

are they all the same. do they work or have the same impact styles, is one better at one item and others better in others.

does anyone know whats what in the world of clear plastic sheets??
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8733
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

All different materials or brands

Poly(methyl methacrylate), also known as acrylic or acrylic glass as well as by the trade names Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, Lucite, and Perspex among several others,


It tends to crack and shatter fairly readily

Polycarbonate is much much stronger aka lexan

3/16th is approx 5mm thick




You will find polycarbonate fairly soft and easy to scratch but very strong
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
grenfell
Posts: 3951
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by grenfell »

Some of it degrades over time ( probably because of the light?) . I had some clear sheets that had been used on advertising panels . I used it to make cold frames which were fine for a while but did become brittle .
omega man
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:02 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by omega man »

Basically you'll find polycarbonate, a mainly crystalline material, this is defined by the highly ordered structure of it's molecules. As said, high impact BUT to a point...at which it will shatter. It's processing temps are very high and it's 'weighty'. This said, not 100% crystalline because this would make it too brittle and compromise it's light refraction and clarity. So an amorphous element is also necessary.

There are numerous combinations of these Crystal/amorphous materials coming under various titles, quite an in-depth subject matter really, I won't go on :roll: Most recently 'clear ABS' has improved in its transparency no end, making it a good choice nowadays for a strong/clear material choice.
This was my field for many years.
Why the interest?

OM
omega man
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:02 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by omega man »

grenfell wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:47 pm Some of it degrades over time ( probably because of the light?) . I had some clear sheets that had been used on advertising panels . I used it to make cold frames which were fine for a while but did become brittle .
Spot on. These materials need a UV stabilizing additive to prevent degradation.
Om
hedgerowpete
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2019 9:18 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by hedgerowpete »

omega man wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:06 pm Basically you'll find polycarbonate, a mainly crystalline material, this is defined by the highly ordered structure of it's molecules. As said, high impact BUT to a point...at which it will shatter. It's processing temps are very high and it's 'weighty'. This said, not 100% crystalline because this would make it too brittle and compromise it's light refraction and clarity. So an amorphous element is also necessary.

There are numerous combinations of these Crystal/amorphous materials coming under various titles, quite an in-depth subject matter really, I won't go on :roll: Most recently 'clear ABS' has improved in its transparency no end, making it a good choice nowadays for a strong/clear material choice.
This was my field for many years.
Why the interest?

OM
i want to put a house burglar alarm panel in a garage, it needs a clear is window to it, but wants to be behind a protective screen as its visible and easy to silence with a hammer. i am looking at a plywood sided box a couple of pieces of lexian scrap from work. the idea is to prevent the ten minutes of high noise i want being stopped.

we have old plant and equipment at work that has clear ish plastic panels, some are known as lexian, others are unknown clear sheets, most are 5mm or 6mm thick. i was thinking about putting two sheets together in the front of the box to act as a window for the IR remote control to work through but resist a burglars hammer.

we did have a similar idea at work but with a gas flue vent steel cage around it, the criminals defeated it with a steel road pin in the shed close to hand which went through the grill bars.
grenfell
Posts: 3951
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by grenfell »

Have you considered laminated glass? That can take a certain amount of effort to get through and if backed by a steel mesh would be very difficult. Kicking around the garden I have some bits of multilayered laminate rather than the two glass and one plastic layers of regular laminated glass and that really is next to impossible to get through.
hedgerowpete
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2019 9:18 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by hedgerowpete »

grenfell wrote: Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:28 am Have you considered laminated glass? That can take a certain amount of effort to get through and if backed by a steel mesh would be very difficult. Kicking around the garden I have some bits of multilayered laminate rather than the two glass and one plastic layers of regular laminated glass and that really is next to impossible to get through.
i would never consider glass, i cant cut it, i have to buy it and its a pain in the backside, i have free clear plastic lexian instead
omega man
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:02 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by omega man »

May I suggest you perform some "durability trials" with the material you have? (Whacking it with an hammer). Another point to add is that you could sandwich it in layers to improve its strength too.
OM
grenfell
Posts: 3951
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: clear plastic sheets

Post by grenfell »

Not quite sure if the comment was directed to me so I should perhaps have added that I've done just that with some of the glass I've got and it resisted completely. It has seven layers if I recall corrrectly (and probably came out of a bank )which means it's very resilient but the downside is that it can't be cut and needs to be ordered at the correct size. I've done the same test with regular three layer laminated and while that does take damage is resilient
One thing with glass is that trying to smash through it will produce sharp shards and edges that will tend to put off anyone trying to get through.
Hedgerow Pete , nothing wrong with using free stuff , I do it all the time but if you already have the plastic it does tend to make you original question somewhat redundant .