Not my words:
www.acrylic-designs.com/plastic_FAQ's.htm
Acrylic is the generic term used to describe the clear hard material we all know as Plexiglas or Lucite. The chemical term is polymethylmetacrylate or PMMA for short. It was first introduced to the United States in 1930.
Plexiglas is the brand name originally used by Rohm & Hauss, the early developers of this plastic type. Lucite is the brand name of DuPont's acrylic material. It's like Kleenex has become a term we use for tissue. I hear that in South America, Gillette is used for razor.
Acrylic is the clearest of plastics, about 8 times clearer than glass. It has good strength but is breakable. Acrylic is fairly rigid, as plastics go but will flex much more than glass. Polycarbonate is even more flexible. Acrylic is a thermoplastic, meaning that it can be heated to a rubbery state and formed in various ways. It is the material of choice for museum cases and displays because of its clarity and workability. We can make glued seams that nearly disappear. We use acrylic almost exclusively for our products because of its workability and high quality. The exposed edges of acrylic may be polished to a clear finish. It can be bent like a sheet of paper by heating a line. Acrylic, as most plastics, will scratch if not cared for properly. That is probably its worst downfall.
Lexan is another type of plastic. The generic term is polycarbonate. Polycarb for short. It's main differences to acrylic are that it is nearly unbreakable, bulletproof when thick. It's main drawback is, it scratches more easily than acrylic. The properties that makes it unbreakable, namely its elasticity and flexibility, give it a softer surface. Lexan is the trademark for GE's polycarb product. Polycarb is less clear than acrylic but clearer than glass. Also a thermoplastic, polycarbonate may be formed in various ways, similar to acrylic. One property of polycarb that causes problems when heating and gluing is that it is more porous than acrylic and tends to absorb moisture from the air. The moisture will boil when heated causing the sheet to turn white or bubble as the vapors expand, destroying the material. In gluing, the chemical that bonds will react with the moisture and may cause the seams to turn white in places. Very ugly. The only way around it is to dry the material in an oven before heating or gluing. This can obviously be a problem if you don't have a large oven handy.
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