What is Polycarbonate? Advantages, Uses, Properties & More

In the ever-evolving world of materials, one substance stands out for its exceptional strength, transparency, and versatility – polycarbonate. This remarkable thermoplastic polymer has revolutionized numerous industries, captivating professionals, hobbyists, and consumers alike with its unique properties. Whether you're a DIY enthusiast, a manufacturer, or simply curious about cutting-edge materials, this comprehensive guide delves into the fascinating realm of polycarbonate.

What is Polycarbonate?

Polycarbonate is a high-performance thermoplastic polymer renowned for its exceptional strength and durability. Its chemical composition consists of repeating units of bisphenol A and phosgene, giving it a unique molecular structure that contributes to its remarkable properties. Classified as a naturally transparent amorphous thermoplastic, polycarbonate can internally transmit light almost as effectively as glass, withstand impacts, and be moulded and reformed without cracking or breaking, making it highly versatile for various applications.

Properties of Polycarbonate

Transparency and Clarity

One of the standout features of polycarbonate is its exceptional transparency and clarity, making it an ideal choice for applications where visibility is essential, such as glazing, lenses, and protective enclosures. Polycarbonate can transmit up to 88% of visible light, providing excellent optical clarity.

Polycarbonate lenses are widely used in various applications such as eyewear and protective gear.

Impact Resistance and Durability

Polycarbonate is virtually unbreakable and can withstand significant impacts without shattering. Its impact resistance is a staggering 200 times greater than glass, making it an exceptional choice for safety applications. This material can withstand repeated impacts of over 900 joules of energy without cracking or breaking. However, polycarbonate has low scratch resistance, so a hard coating is often applied to improve its durability, especially in applications like eyewear lenses and automotive headlamp lenses.

Heat Resistance and Workability

This versatile material can withstand high temperatures without deforming, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, including those involving heat exposure. Polycarbonate retains its strength and stability at temperatures up to 115°C, well above the melting point of many other thermoplastics. Its excellent heat deflection temperature (HDT) of around 132°C ensures it maintains dimensional stability in high-temperature environments. Additionally, polycarbonate exhibits strong chemical resistance, making it compatible with various substances and enhancing its durability in different applications.

Electrical and Optical Properties

Polycarbonate exhibits excellent electrical insulation properties making it widely used in electrical and electronic applications. It also boasts superior optical properties allowing it to be used for high-quality lenses, eyewear, and specialised optical components with minimal distortion.

Polycarbonate plastic is also commonly used in electronic devices and other consumer products due to its UV resistance, transparency, and stability at higher temperatures.

Advantages of Polycarbonate

Lightweight yet Strong

Despite its remarkable strength, polycarbonate is lightweight, with a density of approximately 1.2 g/cm³, making it easy to handle and install, reducing strain and fatigue in various applications. It offers an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, enabling the creation of durable yet lightweight products and structures. Polycarbonate sheeting is commonly used in applications such as roofing and glazing due to its UV protection, weather resistance, and versatility in various sizes, shapes, colours, and transparencies.

Shatter-Resistant and Virtually Unbreakable

Polycarbonate’s shatter-resistant nature is a game-changer for many industries. Its exceptional tensile strength, which measures its resistance to breaking under tension or stretching forces, and flexural strength, which indicates its ability to withstand bending or flexing, make it virtually unbreakable. Even under extreme stress conditions that would cause other materials to crack or shatter, polycarbonate remains intact and long-lasting, thanks to its remarkable durability. However, the use of polycarbonate containers for food storage is controversial due to concerns over the release of bisphenol A (BPA), especially at high temperatures.

Excellent Insulation Properties

Polycarbonate excels as an insulator, with a low thermal conductivity that effectively prevents heat transfer. This makes it ideal for applications like greenhouses and insulated structures, helping maintain desired temperatures and reduce energy costs. Additionally, its sound insulation properties mitigate noise pollution.

Furthermore, polycarbonate's enhanced UV resistance slows down erosion caused by natural light, extending the service life of products and providing protection on both sides of the sheet.

Versatile and Easy to Fabricate

Polycarbonate's versatility allows for easy cutting, drilling, sawing, and machining using standard tools. It can be cold-formed, thermoformed, or bent into complex shapes without compromising strength or optical properties. Polycarbonate is also compatible with various joining methods, enabling flexible assembly and construction processes, making it an attractive choice for DIYers, manufacturers, and designers.

Applications of Polycarbonate Sheets

Construction and Architecture

Polycarbonate sheets and panels are commonly used in glazing, roofing, skylights, and outdoor structures, providing durability and weather resistance.

UV light can cause oxidation and discolouration of polycarbonate, but the use of UV stabilizers can improve resistance and prevent weathering damage.

Automotive Industry

Polycarbonate’s impact resistance makes it a popular choice for automotive components, such as headlight lenses, instrument clusters, and interior trim parts.

Polycarbonate lenses are also used in automotive components like headlight lenses.

Electronics and Consumer Goods

With its electrical insulation and transparency, polycarbonate is an excellent material for electronic enclosures, smartphone cases, computer components, and various consumer products. Additionally, polycarbonate plastic is widely used in electronic devices and consumer products due to its UV resistance, stability at higher temperatures, and chemical resistance.

Safety and Security

Polycarbonate's shatter resistance is leveraged to create protective gear, impact-resistant windows, security barriers, and safety shields for various industries and applications.

Eyewear and Optics

Polycarbonate’s optical properties and durability make it a go-to material for eyewear, including prescription lenses, sports goggles, visors, and protective eyewear. Polycarbonate lenses are also widely used in various types of eyewear such as sports goggles and visors.

Manufacturing Process

Injection Moulding

This process involves injecting molten polycarbonate into a mould cavity, allowing it to cool and solidify into the desired shape. It’s a common method for producing polycarbonate components and parts with intricate details and high precision. Injection moulding polycarbonate is also used in producing products such as compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

Extrusion

Polycarbonate can be extruded into various shapes, such as sheets, rods, or tubes, providing manufacturers and DIYers with versatile raw materials for their projects.

Thermoforming

This technique involves heating and shaping polycarbonate sheets or films into three-dimensional shapes, enabling the creation of custom parts, enclosures, or components.

Environmental Impact and Recyclability

While polycarbonate offers numerous advantages, it’s essential to consider its environmental impact. Polycarbonate is a non-biodegradable material, and its production and disposal can contribute to environmental pollution if not managed properly.

Fortunately, polycarbonate is recyclable, and many industries and communities have implemented recycling programs or initiatives to responsibly dispose of polycarbonate waste. By embracing sustainable practices, manufacturers and consumers alike can enjoy the benefits of polycarbonate while minimizing their environmental footprint. However, there is controversy surrounding the use of industrial-grade polycarbonate, particularly due to concerns over the release of bisphenol A (BPA) at high temperatures, which has been shown to have adverse effects in some studies.

Whether you’re constructing buildings, designing automotive components, creating consumer electronics, or exploring the world of optics, polycarbonate is a material that should be on your radar. Its ease of fabrication and workability empower you to unleash your creativity and bring your visions to life, while its strength and resilience ensure long-lasting performance.

Our cut-to-size polycarbonate sheets are available in various thicknesses and dimensions, ensuring you have the perfect material for your specific needs. For those seeking a more affordable alternative, our high-quality acrylic sheets provide similar benefits while catering to tighter budgets.