Acrylic is our most common name for this material, also known as plexiglass, the English name is Polymethyl methacrylate, called acrylic after English translation, abbreviation is PMMA, its full name is polymethyl methacrylate, its raw materials belong to acrylic chemicals.

Usually in addition to the use of acrylic sheet, we can also hear acrylic cotton, acrylic yarn, acrylic nylon and so on, acrylic sheet is composed of acrylic particles and resin and other materials, while other acrylic textiles are made of acrylic fibers, they do not belong to the same class.

Many times we will feel that acrylic is a new material, but in fact it has been invented for more than a hundred years, as early as 1872 this chemical polymer was discovered, it was not until 1920 that the first acrylic sheet was synthesized in the laboratory, and in 1927, the acrylic sheet was finally completely manufactured in the factory. At the beginning of the manufacture of acrylic was only used in aircraft, at the end of the last century with the improvement and maturity of the production process, acrylic began to be widely used in many industries.

Now, acrylic has become an important material in many industries, such as instrument parts, automotive lights, optical lenses, transparent pipes and crafts and so on.

Features of acrylic

Acrylic has a high transparency, visual clarity, can reach more than 92% of the light transmittance, the light transmittance of ordinary glass is only about 85%, can achieve the transparency of optical glass, even after dyeing also has a good transparency, which increases the display and aesthetic effect of acrylic.

Thanks to the special material properties, the strength of acrylic is more than ten times that of ordinary glass, compared with glass can be used to describe it, made of acrylic products will be very durable, transparent products are most afraid of being scratched, acrylic due to its high strength, so it is also one of the most wear-resistant transparent materials.

Acrylic begins to soften at 113 ° C, and the melting point is 160 ° C, which makes it very plastic and easy to make any shape.

Acrylic has a high resistance to changes in temperature and humidity, as well as acidic and alkaline substances, which is very suitable for outdoor applications.

Although acrylic has many advantages, but also has some disadvantages, the first is its price is more expensive than glass, it is difficult to completely replace glass; Secondly, due to its low ignition point, it will melt and eventually burn when directly exposed to the flame, and the burning will release toxic smoke, so it will be easy to deform and bend when using power tools and cutting.