How is plexiglass made

Petrochemical feedstock from crude oil and natural gas are used in the crackers that produce the basic building blocks for making these plastics. Generally speaking, producing one kilogram of PMMA requires about two kilograms of petroleum feedstock.

When the acrylic is heated to degrees Celsius, it can be easily molded into a variety of shapes that hold their form as they cool. Plexiglass is often manufactured in sheets for use as a lightweight, shatter-resistant alternative to glass. Among the earliest applications occurred during World War II, when it was used for submarine periscopes, and airplane windows, turrets and canopies. Medical workers quickly discovered that war veterans whose eyes were injured due to shards of broken acrylic fared much better than those affected by shards of shattered glass.

Different processes are used to create the PMMA that goes into bone cement used by orthopedics to secure bone implants in patients. PMMA has also been developed to create a tattoo ink called Chameleon Tattoo Ink which causes a tattoo to glow under blacklight exposure. By Steve Brachmann. References Answers. Acrylic Vs. Plexi Glass Acrylic vs. Swanstone Showers. Akriform has the capacity to do anything from one product up to thousands. Depending on how the product looks and what quantity is required, the finished product can usually be delivered about three to four weeks from the start of production.

Whether the finished product will be delivered to you or anyone else we can arrange for the distribution. Upon request we can in some cases also offer storage. To see more custom products, please visit the gallery. Contact us Fill in the form and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Choose file. I have read Akriform's data protection policy and agree that Akriform handles my information accordingly.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Plastic Plastic is a generic term for a large group of semi-synthetic or synthetic materials.

Acrylic One of the most common thermoplastics is acrylic. Other common plastics Polycarbonate PC. Akriforms custom production With over 50 highly skilled employees and a full-scale machinery for processing plastic sheets, rods and pipes, Akriform can do basically anything in plastic. The glass, copper, and other component parts are still there, but they have been reassembled into something that looks and functions entirely differently.

The first plastic polymer, celluloid, a combination of cellulose nitrate and camphor, was developed in It was based on the natural polymer cellulose, which is present in plants. Celluloid was used to make many items including photographic film, combs, and men's shirt collars.

In , Leo Baekeland developed the first commercially successful synthetic plastic polymer when he patented phenol formalde-hyde resin, which he named Bakelite. Bakelite was an immediate success. It could be machined and molded. It was an excellent electrical insulator and was resistant to heat, acids, and weather. It could also be colored and dyed for use in decorative objects. Bakelite plastic was used in radio, telephone, and electrical equipment, as well as counter tops, buttons, and knife handles.

Acrylic acid was first prepared in Methacrylic acid, which is a derivative of acrylic acid, was formulated in When methacrylic acid is reacted with methyl alcohol, it results in an ester known as methyl methacrylate.

The polymerization process to turn methyl methacrylate into polymethyl methacrylate was discovered by the German chemists Fittig and Paul in , but it wasn't until that the process was used to produce sheets of acrylic safety glass commercially. During World War II, acrylic glass was used for periscope ports on submarines and for windshields, canopies, and gun turrets on airplanes. Methyl methacrylate is the basic molecule, or monomer, from which polymethyl methacrylate and many other acrylic plastic polymers are formed.

Figure 2 shows other acrylic plastic monomers that may be copolymerized with methyl methacrylate. COOCH 3. During polymerization, one leg of this double bond breaks and links up with the middle carbon atom of another methyl methacrylate molecule to start a chain.

This process repeats itself until the final polymer is formed. See Figure 1. Methyl methacrylate may be formed in several ways. This in turn is reacted with methyl alcohol [CH 3 OH] to produce methyl methacrylate. See Figure 2 When two or more monomers are joined together, the result is known as a copolymer. Just as with methyl methacrylate, both of these monomers have a double bond on the middle carbon atoms that splits during polymerization to link with the carbon atoms of other molecules.

Controlling the proportion of these other monomers produces changes in elasticity and other properties in the resulting plastic. Acrylic plastic polymers are formed by reacting a monomer, such as methyl methacrylate, with a catalyst.