Acrylic sheets and Polycarbonate sheets are both thermoplastic engineering grade plastics. According to various functional characteristics, acrylic is mostly seen in advertising displays and craft gifts, while Polycarbonate is mostly used in industrial manufacturing and outdoor decoration.
Hardness: Acrylic has lower hardness than Polycarbonate. The surface of acrylic is easy to scratch, so the protective film on the surface of the sheet cannot be pulled off during the acrylic processing and production process, and the surface should be prevented from being scratched and leaving ugly marks during the packaging process. Polycarbonate has a relatively high hardness. Generally, it will not scratch Polycarbonate with nails or wood, and it has excellent abrasion resistance.
Light transmittance: Acrylic has better light transmittance function than Polycarbonate. Acrylic has a high light transmittance rate of 92%, which is the same as glass, so it is called plexiglass, especially optical grade and light dispersion grade acrylic, which has extremely high light transmittance and is suitable for the manufacture of optical lenses and industrial lenses. The light transmittance of Polycarbonate is only about 87%, which can only be applied to outdoor roof lighting shades and outdoor advertising light boxes.
Processing function: Acrylic is easier to process than Polycarbonate. Acrylic has low hardness and is easy to shape. It can be used for cutting, engraving, gongs, milling, drilling, turning, chamfering, trimming, polishing, bending and other processing with woodworking machinery. However, Polycarbonate processing is more difficult, and the processed surface effect is not good, the brightness is not good, and it is easy to crack and chip.
Temperature resistance: Polycarbonate is more resistant to high temperature. Polycarbonate can withstand a high temperature of 135 degrees, while acrylic starts to soften when it reaches 85 degrees.
Other properties: In terms of stamping resistance, tensile strength, low temperature resistance, acid and alkali corrosion resistance, dimensional stability, and material stability, Polycarbonate is better than acrylic.
Hardened acrylic has high transparency and high hardness, and is generally used in aircraft windshields, car doors and windows, electrical panels, equipment covers and other fields.
Price: Normally Polycarbonate is 40%-50% more expensive than acrylic.