Bayer Makrolon Polycarbonate materials offer a great blend of useful features including temp resistance, impact resistance and optical properties position polycarbonates between commodity plastics and engineering plastics.
Polycarbonate is definitely a tough material. Although it offers tremendous impact-resistance, it has got lower scratch-resistance and thus a hard coating is applied to polycarbonate eyewear lenses and polycarbonate exterior automobile components. The characteristics associated with polycarbonate are similar 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 it has better light transmission characteristics than many kinds of glass.
Polycarbonate has a glass transition temperature of about 150 °C (302 °F), as a result it softens slowly above this point and flows above about 300°C (572 °F). Tools ought to be held at warm to high temperatures, generally above 80 °C (176 °F) for making strain- and reduced stress products.
Unlike most other thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo massive changes in basic shape without cracking. As a result, for small changes in shape, it can be processed and formed  without needing to be heated using sheet metal techniques, which include forming bends with a brake. Even for sharp angle bends having a tight radius, no heating is generally necessary. This makes it attractive prototyping applications where transparent or electrically non-conductive parts are crucial, which can not be made from sheet metal. Note that PMMA/Plexiglas, which is similar in looks to polycarbonate, but it is brittle and can't be bent at room temperature.
The light weight of polycarbonate, in contrast to glass, has led to advancement of electronic view screens that replace the traditional glass with polycarbonate, for use in mobile and portable devices. Such displays include newer e-ink as well as LCD screens, though CRT, plasma screen and other LCD technologies still generally require glass for its higher melting temperature and the ability to be etched with finer detail.
Other kinds of items manufactured from Polycarbonate include durable, lightweight luggage, MP3/digital audio player cases, computer cases, riot shields, instrument panels, and blender jars. Many toys and hobby products are produced from 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 could be needed. This may be a coating (e.g. for improved abrasion resistance), or as a coextrusion for enhanced weathering resistance.
The Makrolon Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic that begins as a solid plastic material in the form of small pellets. In a manufacturing process called injection molding, the pellets are heated until they melt in to a thick liquid. The liquid polycarbonate is then rapidly injected into molds, compressed under high pressure and cooled to create a finished product in less than a minute.
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