Cleartech acrylic glass, transparent colourless

Precision Acrylic Glasses are ultra high quality cast acrylic plates that primarily distinguish themselves from other customary acrylic glass in the trade through their extremely small thickness tolerances ± 0.1 mm for sheets up to th=1.0 mm, of ± 0.2 mm for sheets from th=1.5 mm). When being compared with other cast acrylic glasses (for example, PLEXIGLAS GS) what is most striking is that precision acrylic glasses are available with thicknesses as small as 0.5 mm and up. In order to assure the desired standard of quality established by the company, each sheet is manually measured for thickness and eye-balled for any defects.

What makes Precision Acrylic Glass so special is that even in small amounts (12.5 or 7.5 m² respectively) they can be custom ordered in a multitude of colours with various surface textures and in different thicknesses from 0.5 to 6.3 mm (or 4.0 mm respectively). As a comparison: when custom ordering standard acrylic glass, the normal minimum order amount would be at least 300 kg per type.

If you are interested in a custom fabrication we request that, in addition to a designation of the required amounts for the desired quality, you specify: the thickness (± allowable tolerances); the colour (for example, your own special colour) and the surface texture. For custom fabrications you should expect a delivery time of 4 to 5 weeks.

By virtue of being a cast acrylic glass, Precision Acrylic Glasses lend themselves to all types of machining (boring, milling, etc,). These materials really show their strengths when being worked on with a CNC milling machine. They do not melt and, because of their small tolerances, allow even the finest of fine work. They are a thermoplast and can therefore be deformed when heated and thus can also be deep drawn. The correct temperature for deformation work lies, depending on the thickness of the material, between 130 and 170°.

Precision acrylic glass is primarily processed by industry into timepiece crystals, filters for single or multiple coloured LCD/LED displays as well as radio and audio cover panels. Architectural model makers are mainly interested in these materials because of their tiny thickness tolerances and the possibilities that they open up for fine precision work.

Cleartech should probably be called “Anti-Scratch Tech” because its greatest attribute is not its transparency but rather its scratch resistance, which is especially impressive for a plastic material. Both sides of this acrylic sheet are hard-coated to an extent that it can be rubbed on with steel wool without leaving any marks on the highly transparent surface. The light transmission ability of the sheet is not affected by the coating; the percentage of penetrating light is 92%, which is a typical amount for acrylic sheets (for comparison, a thin single pane of glass also has a transmission rate of about 90 %).

Like all the other optical acrylic sheets in our assortment, Cleartech is mainly used for LCD/LED displays, for watch crystals, for touch screens and control panels and the like. It can often also be found being used in public areas for signage and doorplates because its impact-resistance as compared to standard glass is greater by far – not least because of the aforementioned additional coating process. It should also be noted that the weight of an acrylic sheet is about half that of a sheet of glass of the same size. This material naturally lends itself to certain types of uses: it can, for instance, serve as the outer or frontal sheet of an outdoor company sign or as an ersatz material for polycarbonate in instances where, in addition to a certain degree of impact-resistance (less than PC), the optical quality of the transparent sheet is of primary concern (in this regard the acrylic is better!).

Cleartech, like any other acrylic sheet, can be machine worked or just generally mechanically processed. The edges, as is also the case with all other acrylic glass, can be treated by means of WET SANDPAPER and POLISHING PASTE.

Please note: Sheets with thicknesses of 1, 2 and 5 millimetres can be delivered (two week delivery time) when at least 2 sheets (1120 x 1320 mm) are ordered.